19. mars 2025

HRC58 - Joint statement - ID with the Group of Independent Experts in Belarus

Human Rights Council – 58^th Session
Interactive Dialogue with the Group of Independent Experts in Belarus
Joint Statement on behalf of a cross-regional group of countries
19 March 2025

Thank you, Mr. President,

I have the honour to deliver this statement on behalf of a cross-regional group of countries.

We are appalled by the constantly deteriorating human rights situation in Belarus. Civil society, both in Belarus and in exile, is forced to live in constant fear, because the authorities rely on arbitrary arrests and detentions, frequently accompanied by torture or ill-treatment, to silence them. They are being punished and humiliated for aspiring to have a free, democratic, sovereign and independent country.

We are particularly alarmed by further evidence as reported by the GIE, of crimes against humanity, specifically imprisonment and persecution for political reasons. This aspect must be seriously taken into account when engaging with the Government of Belarus and ensuring that all perpetrators are held accountable.

We urgently call on Belarusian authorities to immediately cease its support to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. Any arbitrary detentions of those peacefully expressing protest or speaking out against the war of aggression by Russia against Ukraine, or Belarus’s support for that aggression, are unjustifiable.

We also call on the Belarusian authorities to ensure the safe return to Ukraine of all deported Ukrainian children and to stop political indoctrination and military reeducation of Ukrainian children on its territory.

We also condemn the continued instrumentalization of migrants by the Belarusian authorities, in complicity with Russia, for political purposes.

Independent Experts,

How can UN Member States further effectively encourage Belarus to cooperate with your mandate?

I thank you.

List of co-sponsors: