Statement by Ambassador Andrejs Pildegovičs
76th session of UNGA, 3rd committee
Interactive Dialogue with Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Belarus, Ms Anaïs MARIN
October 25, 2021
Thank you, Mr Chair
Thank you, Madam Special Rapporteur
I have the honor to deliver this statement on behalf of the eight Nordic-Baltic countries - Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden and my own country Latvia.
We are seriously concerned about the continuously deteriorating human rights situation in Belarus. We condemn the human rights violations and torture, including sexual and gender-based violence, the targeting of civil society actors, human rights defenders, journalists and other media workers, women and children and persons belonging to other vulnerable groups, by the Belarusian authorities. The country now has over 800 political prisoners. We call for the immediate and unconditional release of all those arbitrarily detained. These repressive acts must cease and all perpetrators held accountable.
Furthermore, the Lukashenko regime has shown flagrant disregard for international law, including through the forced landing of a Ryanair flight in Minsk in order to arrest a political opponent, thus threatening international security.
Since the summer, the Belarusian regime has been organising the arrivals of people from third countries to Belarus, promising them easy access to the EU and forcing them to cross illegally into neighbouring countries. It is utterly unacceptable to take advantage of vulnerable individuals and to instrumentalize them for political purposes. This policy has been accompanied by a massive disinformation campaign. It is a clear retaliation for us being decisive in our support to Belarusian civil society. We call on Belarus to stop the instrumentalization of migrants and refugees from third countries and to live up to its responsibilities under applicable international law.
We support international initiatives to hold all perpetrators to account, including through the OHCHR and its examination and accountability mechanism on Belarus and the International Accountability Platform for Belarus.
We believe that the only way to end the political crisis in Belarus is through an inclusive national dialogue resulting in free and fair elections under international and impartial observation.
Considering that the human rights situation in Belarus continues to deteriorate and given the refusal of the Belarus authorities to cooperate with international mandate holders, we would like to hear your assessment of what the next practical steps of the international community could be in order to make sure that human rights in Belarus are respected.
Thank you, Mr Chair!