Minsk slams use of human rights to dabble in other countries` affairs :: Charter'97 :: News

Belarus will fight western countries` practice of using human rights issues to justify policies of double standards, Belarussian Deputy Foreign Minister Viktor Gaisenok said.

"In recent years western countries have been using human rights issues to justify policies of double standards, thus leading to the UN`s politicization, which is completely inadmissible," Gaisenok told Interfax.

Gaisenok also criticized a U.S. initiative to create a new UN human rights body---the Council on Human Rights. The Council is expected to comprise 20 countries, in which human rights are respected.

The deputy minister said that "the existence of a Council with reduced membership would not foster the UN`s development as a non- politicized organization."

"We will not support such an idea. In practice the proposed Council can legitimize the use of arbitrary standards when dealing with human rights issues."

Gaisenok said that he did not support the idea of the Humanitarian Intervention Concept, which presupposes that humanitarian disasters are not only an issue of one particular country, but also concern the whole world.

"Humanitarian disasters should attract the world`s attention, but we cannot agree to a country interfering in the internal policy of another country without its consent under the pretext of humanitarian aid," Gaisenok said.