UN News Today 3 July 2024 |

Belarus is not safe for anyone critical of authorities, warns rights expert

Citizens and civil society critical of the Belarussian authorities face worsening repression, arbitrary detention, ill-treatment and harassment, nearly four years since widespread public protests took place surrounding the re-election of President Alexander Lukashenko, a UN independent human rights expert said on Wednesday.

In her report to the Human Rights Council in Geneva, Special Rapporteur on the situation in Belarus, Anaïs Marin, echoed wider, longstanding concerns from the UN and the inte rnational community about a crackdown on democratic freedoms and other serious rights abuses in the country.

“The general trend I observe is a further tightening of the screws against any real or perceived opposition to the acting government, and the systematic persecution of anyone who dares expressing dissenting views about its policies… As you see, repression in Belarus has reached such a scale and intensity that it should not be considered a safe country for anyone who ever showed disagreement with the government or its policies…”

President Lukashenko, 69, has been in power since 1994; he’s  Europe’s longest-serving leader.

Ms. Marin noted that more than 1,500 registered associations had “disappeared” in recent years – almost half the number that existed prior to the 2020 election violence.

Special Rapporteurs are appointed by the Human Rights Council. They are not UN staff and serve independent of the Organization.

Ukraine war: May was bloodiest month in a year, says UN human rights mission

To Ukraine, where UN human rights monitors said on Wednesday that May was the deadliest month in a year, amid increasing Russian military strikes and so-called “double-tap” attacks.

Danielle Bell, the Head of the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, said that “relentless” Russian attacks caused loss of life, displacement and destruction of homes and businesses.

UN monitors identified the use of powerful air-dropped bombs and missiles in populated areas and at least five instances of successive attacks on the same location, just as first responders arrived on the scene.

The spring escalation in hostilities also saw Russian armed forces launch their “largest campaign of attacks” against critical energy infrastructure since the winter of 2022-23, killing and injuring civilians, and also affecting millions of people across the country with power cuts, a report by the monitors said.

Syria still in grip of appalling cycles of violence, Human Rights Council hears

Finally to Syria, which is still in the grip of “appalling cycles of violence” including massacres and atrocity crimes, 13 years since civil war erupted there.

That’s the message from the Commission of Inquiry on Syria, created by the Human Rights Council to investigate serious rights abuses in the country.

Chairperson of the panel, Paulo Pinheiro, told the Council that the situation inside Syria is now more divided and complicated than ever, one year after the massive earthquake that worsened the humanitarian crisis in the country and put additional pressure on the already crumbling economy.

No less than six foreign armies are engaged in Syria, Mr. Pinheiro noted, before condemning the killing of 10 civilians including two children by pro-government militia in Sanamin, Deraa, on 7 April.

This was reportedly in retaliation for an improvised explosive device attack in which at least seven youngsters were killed, Mr. Pinheiro said, while also noting that other brutal attacks attributed to ISIL extremists have continued in northeast and central Syria.

The country is now divided into “predatory security forces and militias” overseeing their fiefdoms and extorting civilians, rather than ensuring protection and the rule of law, the veteran rights investigator explained, as he noted that Syria’s return to the League of Arab States last year has yet to result in any change in the arbitrary detentions, enforced disappearances, torture and death in detention across the country.

Music composed and produced by Joachim Harris. All rights reserved