On the Debates with the Special Rapporteur on Belarus in the UN Human Rights Council

04-06-2013

On June 4, 2013 a discussion of Mr.Mikhail Khvostov, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Belarus to the UN Office in Geneva, with the Special Rapporteur on Belarus, took place in the UN Human Rights Council.

Mr.Mikhail Khvostov marked that people of Belarus do not need the Special Rapporteur to think for them. The Head of the Belarusian delegation pointed out the unacceptability of the mandate of the special rapporteur for Belarus, and described it as an instrument of foreign policy of the EU, which has no relation to human rights. Mr.Khvostov stressed that the EU does not offer to Belarus a model of cooperation, but it imposes a model of development, suggesting that EU lifestyle is inherently better than others.
 
During the debates a group of countries supported Belarus and ranged against the mandate of the Special Rapporteur. They were as follows: Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Venezuela, Cuba, Turkmenistan, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Indonesia, Zimbabwe, Myanmar, Lebanon, Djibouti, Uzbekistan, Morocco, Palestine, Bahrain, Bolivia, Laos, Vietnam, Sri Lanka and others.
 
Mainly the EU member states, which charged the death penalty and insufficient protection of the rights of sexual minorities as a major human rights violation in Belarus supported the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on Belarus.

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