On September 19, within the framework of the 60th session of the UN Human Rights Council, an interactive dialogue was held with Karinna Moskalenko, a member of the Group of Independent Experts on Belarus, as well as a side event “Give a Voice to the Victims: Human Rights Violations in Belarus”, organized by the Permanent Mission of Lithuania to the UN.
Both events highlighted the human rights situation in Belarus. The interactive dialogue focused on the findings of the independent experts’ latest report on the human rights situation in Belarus. During the side event, former political prisoners and human rights defenders testified, sharing accounts of large-scale repression in Belarus, torture, arbitrary arrests, and persecution of independent media and civil society.
The speakers emphasized that, despite isolated releases, the repressive machine remains fully operational. New detentions and repeated arrests continue to occur regularly, forcing many Belarusians to seek asylum abroad.
Comment from Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya’s Advisor on Legal Affairs, Leanid Marozau: “When the Lukashenka regime calls the discussion of torture and repression ‘slandering the country’ and an ‘internal matter’, it once again confuses Belarus with the dictatorship. Human rights cannot be hidden behind the signboard of ‘sovereign policy’. When the regime makes torture and forced exile a policy, that is precisely what the Human Rights Council must address. We are truly grateful to Lithuania and Lithuanian human rights defenders for ensuring that the voices of Belarusians were heard today in Geneva”.
Leanid Marozau also briefed representatives of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Belarus, Nils Muižnieks, on the current situation in the country.
Among the key issues raised were the recent releases, forced deportations of former political prisoners, and, as a matter of urgency, the fate of Mikalai Statkevich.
