Madam President,
FIDH and its member organization in Belarus “Viasna” welcome the convening of this urgent debate to address the ongoing, widespread and systematic violations of human rights in Belarus.
The situation continues to escalate, the severity and extent of the crackdown against peaceful protesters reaching all levels of society, with at least 7000 arrests and prosecutions cases, close to 1000 cases of torture and ill-treatment, retaliatory measures against victims and their lawyers for voicing complaints, internet shutdowns and restrictions of the work of civil society.
We regret that no credible investigation into violations by the authorities has taken place so far.
We also regret that the authorities continue to answer the grievances of protesters with a severe crackdown and pursue a disinformation campaign rather than engage in an inclusive dialogue that would include opposition leaders and civil society actors.
We call on the [Human Rights] Council to urgently adopt a resolution that:
- Condemns in the strongest terms the unprecedented levels of violence committed by the authorities against protesters;
- Calls for the immediate release of all those detained on unlawful grounds; and for the end of the harassment of civil society actors;
- Calls on the High Commissioner for Human Rights to establish the facts and circumstances of human rights violations and abuses committed, as a first step to ensuring full and credible accountability; and
- Condemns the disinformation campaign conducted by the authorities and the Russian Federation to discredit the peaceful movement.
I thank you.