Rights diplomat calls on Minsk to fully cooperate with UN bodies

June 19, BPN. The United Nations (UN) human rights chief has called on the Belarusian government to fully cooperate with UN bodies, after it failed to cooperate on human rights expertise and communicate with a special rapporteur on Belarus.

Minsk’s withdrawal from the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights limited international capabilities to aid it, the high commissioner for human rights, Volker Türk, told the Human Rights Council session in Geneva, according to his office.

The UN Human Rights Council will hear a report on Belarus, to be presented by Special Rapporteur Anaïs Marin, on July 5. It highlights restrictions on freedom of expression amid anti-war sentiment.