Opposition leader grateful for “strong support” of UN resolution on Belarus

April 5, BPN. Belarusian opposition leader Śviatłana Cichanoŭskaja appreciated the “strong support” for the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) resolution on the situation in Belarus adopted at its 52nd session on April 4.

“It’s important to show solidarity with Belarusians as the regime is intensifying repressions against civil society, media and lawyers,” she tweeted.

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 August 9, 2020, and the continued impunity and lack of accountability for human rights violations committed in Belarus since May 1, 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.