UN Human Rights Council extends mandate of rapporteur on Belarus

July 13, BPN. The UN Human Right Council (HRC) has voted 20 to 6 with 21 abstentions to extend the mandate of the UN special rapporteur on Belarus by one year.

The resolution calls on the Belarusian authorities to cooperate with the international community, revoke discriminatory laws and unconditionally release all persons arbitrarily or illegally detained in Belarus.

Bolivia, China, Cuba, Eritrea, Kazakhstan and Vietnam have voted against.

The HRC strongly condemns the reported widespread and systematic violations of international human rights law, including arbitrary deprivation of the right to life and to liberty, and the continued systematic and widespread torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and punishment, inhumane detention conditions and denial of timely and adequate medical services and legal assistance in detention centers and prisons, as well as the denial of the right to a fair trial, and the failure of the Belarusian authorities to conduct prompt, effective, thorough, transparent and impartial investigations into all the aforementioned human rights violations.

On July 5, the UN special rapporteur, Anaïs Marin, presented her report to the HRC, calling for the application of universal jurisdiction to investigate alleged abuses by Belarusian authorities.