BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

18/05/2007

Belarus opposition leader grateful his country was defeated for seat on UN Human Rights Council

The Associated Press

PRAGUE, Czech Republic: Belarus' opposition leader Alexander Milinkevich welcomed on Friday the failure of his country to win a seat on the U.N. Human Rights Council.

Milinkevich also thanked former Czech President Vaclav Havel and human rights organizations for their help in defeating Belarus in Thursday's vote in the U.N. General Assembly, calling it "a good example of a vote in favor of democracy in Belarus, in favor of greater attention to human rights violations in my country."

"I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Mr. Vaclav Havel, and to all the international human rights organizations, especially the Human Rights Watch, People in Need and Civic Belarus, for their commitment and defense of human rights as the highest value," said a letter by Milinkevich released Friday by the Czech human rights organization People In Need.

Ahead of the vote, Havel joined a number of watchdog groups worldwide, urging U.N. members to oppose Belarus' candidacy by citing the former Soviet republic's repressive rights record. President Alexander Lukashenko has ruled Belarus with an iron fist for more than a decade, quashing dissent and opposition groups

In the voting, Slovenia won one of the two East European seats and Bosnia, pressed by the United States, Britain and France to enter the race, defeated Belarus for the other.

Egypt, Angola and Qatar also won seats on the council despite opposition from human rights groups that said they did not deserve a spot on the council because of human rights violations.

The Geneva-based council, which has no power beyond drawing international attention to rights issues, is dominated by African and Muslim countries that have sided with China, Cuba and other countries in preventing criticism of any government but Israel. The United States has not sought a seat on the council, accusing it of anti-Israel bias.

Source:

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/05/18/europe/EU-GEN-Czech-Belarus-Opposition.php