BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

12/06/2007

Rights abuses in Belarus keep getting worse: U.N. expert

GENEVA (AP) - Human rights violations in Belarus have been worsening with no sign that the government will improve its record under international pressure, a U.N.-appointed rights expert said Tuesday.

"During 2006 the situation of human rights in Belarus constantly deteriorated," Adrian Severin told the U.N. Human Rights Council, citing abuses such as imprisonment of political opponents, torture, excessive use of police force and severe restrictions on the news media.

Representatives of Belarus and Russia, its big ally, dismissed the report as politically biased.

"All my efforts to engage in constructive dialogue with the government of Belarus were fruitless,> Severin told U.N.'s top rights watch dog, adding that the government failed to allow him to visit the country for the third consecutive year in 2006 and has yet to respond to a new request this year.

More than 150 people were reportedly put on trial without having access to a lawyer in connection with the presidential elections of March last year, in which Alexander Lukashenko won another five-year term, he told council members.

The Romanian legislator reports to the 47-nation council, but is independent of the United Nations.

Just as the government has dismissed a barrage of international criticism in recent years, it has ignored all his previous calls to put an end to abuses, said Severin.

"In fact, the political system of Belarus seems to be incompatible with the concept of human rights as enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations> and in the rights treaties which Belarus has ratified, he said in a 19-page report.

The rights council should either press for democratization of the country's government or he said.

Severin _ who encouraged Belarusian civil society activists to continue their work toward democratization _ called on the U.N. to set up a legal expert group to investigate whether the country's government was responsible for the disappearance and murders of several politicians and journalists and help to put an end to impunity.

Although there were a few positive developments such as the release of some of the political prisoners and some rights groups and newspapers have recently been treated better, the improvements were not enough yet to bring real change, he said.

Support by the international community is of "paramount importance for the destiny of Belarus and its people," Severin told council-members.

The report contained false allegations and "absurd conclusions," said Belarus ambassador Sergei Aleinik, calling Severin an "incompetent and politically engaged expert" who wanted to create a negative image of the country.

"The special rapporteur is misusing the human rights mandate...to put forward a political model for interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign state," he told the council.

Oleg Malginov, who heads the human rights division of the Russian Foreign Ministry, told the council that the report was politically biased and said it demonstrated why the mandates of U.N. rights experts on specific countries should be abolished.

Source:

http://www.pr-inside.com/rights-abuses-in-belarus-keep-getting-r151293.htm