UN Commission Adopts Human Rights Resolution on Belarus :: Charter'97 :: News

On April 17 the text of the human rights resolution was finally approved by the 59th UN Commission for human rights session, held these days in Geneva. Consideration of such a document in the most influential human rights watchdog organization happened for the very first time in history and immediately won the support of the majority Commission’s members. 23 states voted in favor of it, 14 against and 16 abstained. “UN Commission for human rights’ passage of resolution on human rights situation in Belarus will entail most serious consequences: political and economic alike. The governments of the democratic countries will be obliged to take resolution into account when building their relations with Belarus. International organizations, both financial and economic, will also have to have it in mind. The resolution envisages quite serious mechanisms for the control over human rights situation in Belarus, including the mechanisms of the UN special rapporteurs,” – deems Charter’97 international coordinator, former deputy Foreign Minister of Belarus Andrei Sannikov.

The diplomat said in an interview to Charter’97 press-center that the resolution’s passage is a very serious step on part of the world community, as far as the UN Commission for human rights is world’s most authoritarian human rights body. He underscored that the analysis of the voting’s outcomes testifies that Russia gave her consent to the document’s approval.

Moreover, Andrei Sannikov pointed out that the voting on Belarus was analogous to the voting on human rights resolution in Turkmenistan. This manifests the international community’s most serious preoccupation with the state of affairs in our country. “Despite all attempts of the Belarusian authorities to thwart resolution’s passage (Lukashenko delegated to Geneva with this goal in mind his personal aide Leschenya and deputy Foreign Minister Sychev), the Commission decided that the human rights situation in Belarus deteriorated to such an extent that it is high time they passed a special resolution on the matter,” – stated Charter’97 international coordinator.

Andrei Sannikov also noted that the main role in passing the resolution was played by the United States of America and especially the US embassy in Minsk.

Feel free to read on our site resolution’s full text.