Belarus urges UN to end harassment of states

Belarus has called on the United Nations to stop what it describes as the “harassment” of sovereign states, saying it will not accept approaches that rely on coercion or political pressure.

The statement was made by the Belarusian permanent mission to the UN during a session of the General Assembly’s Third Committee in New York, where the annual report on the Human Rights Council’s work was presented, Caliber.Az reports, citing Belarusian media.

A Belarusian diplomat said the UN Human Rights Council remains an important platform for discussing human rights issues, which significantly affect the quality of life of citizens and help strengthen the capacity of states in this area.

However, the diplomat argued that the council has increasingly strayed from principles of universality, impartiality, objectivity, and non-selectivity, engaging in what he described as “overt harassment of states for political reasons”. He criticised selective country-specific scrutiny as part of a broader practice of using human rights for political ends, which undermines trust in the council and its decisions.

“We are seeing a paradoxical situation where the council, ostensibly fighting repression in certain countries, has itself become a repressive body,” the diplomat said.

Belarus also raised concerns about the misuse of human rights issues in supporting unilateral coercive measures that contravene international law. “On one hand, the council’s work is used to justify unlawful sanctions aimed at interfering in the internal affairs of independent states; on the other, it largely ignores the negative impact of such measures on human rights,” the mission said.

The Belarusian delegation argued that over the past year, the council has failed to address the politicisation of human rights, double standards, imbalances in attention to different categories of rights, and growing confrontation among states.

“Belarus has always been committed to improving human rights and is open to constructive dialogue aimed at genuine progress. We welcome initiatives that promote economic, social, and cultural rights to reduce inequality both within and between states. But we will never accept approaches imposed through the council that involve coercion, interference in domestic affairs, or erosion of state sovereignty,” the statement concluded.

By Aghakazim Guliyev