EU to demand release of Belarusian political prisoners in UN

The European Union insists on the immediate release and rehabilitation of the Belarusian political prisoners.

It is said in the Council conclusions on EU priorities at the UN Human Rights Fora.

The document underlines the Council's concerns over human rights violations in a number of countries, first of all in Syria. The situation in Syria “remains one of the most acute and dire human rights and humanitarian crises of recent history,” Interfax reports.

The EU Council urges all sides of the conflict, especially the regime, to end all violations and abuses of human rights and seek to ensure accountability, ending impunity. The EU calls to give the Commission of Inquiry the immediate and unfettered access to the country.

The EU calls on the international community to give attention to and investigate the grave and systematic human rights violations in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. The document raises concerns over the human rights situation in Belarus, Iran, Sri Lanka, Myanmar/Burma, the Central African Republic, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The Council reiterates its call for the prompt and unconditional release and rehabilitation of all political prisoners in Belarus.

The EU emphasises the universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated nature of all human rights and reaffirms its strong commitment to promotion and protection of human rights worldwide. The document also raises topics of the abolition of the death penalty, freedom of religion, rights of children, gender equality, freedom of opinion and expression, freedom of association and assembly, the struggle against torture and discrimination based on sexual orientation.