UN Human Rights Council adopts the final document on Belarus

The final Universal Periodic Review document about Belarus has been approved at the 15th UN human rights session today, on September 23. However, the Belarusian delegation has rejected the majority of principal recommendations.

"A number of recommendations about changes of the legislation concerning mass media, elections and associations were expressed. The national legislation in those spheres corresponds to Belarus’ international obligations… We are going to concentrate on the legal practice now… The suggestion that we should reconsider the legislation concerning activities of non-governmental organizations is groundless", stated the head of the Belarus' Standing mission to the UN Mikhail Khvastou.

At the same time, he noted that despite the fact that the recommendation had been rejected, they would "stay in in the Belarusian government’s field of vision".

Representatives of Egypt, Cuba, Algeria, Uzbekistan and China were satisfied with Belarus’ report and did not criticize the progress in the field of civil and political rights.

Uzbekistan representative Badriddin Obidov: "We would like to thank the Belarusian delegation for exhaustive information on the recommendation expressed… Belarus is making attempts to protect human rights by creating legal and institutional conditions and the basis for functioning of the interested sides”.

The comments of non-governmental organizations differed significantly. A representative of the Worldwide Alliance for Citizen Participation (CIVICUS) regretted that the position of the Belarusian delegation in the interactive dialogue was formal and non-constructive.

CIVICUS: "We regretted even more when Belarus refused to accept the majority of recommendations of foreign governments in the issues that we considered the most serious. They are the abolishment of the capital punishment, or at least imposing a moratorium on it, guaranteed freedom of assembly and associations, simplification of the procedure of registration for non-governmental organizations and political parties and cancellation of article 193-1 (acting on behalf of unregistered organizations)”.

A representative of the Belarusian ecological community also expressed a hope that our government would cancel the notorious article.

"Citizens cannot get involved in free ecological self-government, in informational and other activities due to the article. Inhabitants and initiative groups of many Belarusian cities like Astravets, Vileika, Maladzechna and Minsk are deprived of the opportunity to express their opinion about ecological issues like the construction of the NPP in public".

Technically, Belarus has approved 75 out of 93 recommendations voiced by foreign governments. Thus, our country has promised to ratify of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, to improve living conditions in prisons and detention centres and to provide all the detained with access to a lawyer and to allow relatives to visit them. However, most of the approved recommendations are vague notions like "to continue education attempts in the field of human rights" and "further development of relations between religions"

Recommendations concerning the principle spheres in which the international community urges Belarus to make reforms have not been accepted.