UN rights chief’s mandate on Belarus extended for one year

April 4, BPN. The mandate of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights with respect to the situation in Belarus has been extended for one year, according to a resolution adopted at the 52nd session of the Human Rights Council (HRC).

According to the document, the High Commissioner for Human Rights is expected to present an interim oral update on the situation in Belarus at the 54th session of the HRC, and a comprehensive written report at the 55th session.

The HRC expressed “deep concern at the further deterioration of the situation of human rights in Belarus in the aftermath of the presidential election held on 9 August 2020 and the continued impunity and lack of accountability for human rights violations committed in Belarus since 1 May 2020.”

It condemned the “continuing systematic denial of human rights and fundamental freedoms,” pointing at some 1,500 political prisoners in Belarus and the arbitrary detention of opposition members, journalists, human rights defenders, lawyers, cultural workers, students, members of trade unions and others for “dissenting opinions.”

The document received 21 “Yes” votes, including from the UK and USA, and the same number of abstentions. Five nations, Bolivia, China, Cuba, Eritrea and Vietnam, opposed the resolution.