The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Friday that she continues to be alarmed by “persistent allegations” of “widespread and systematic torture” of protesters in Belarus.
The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, and migration agency IOM, called on Tuesday for an immediate investigation into the deaths of four people near the border between Poland and Belarus, due to causes yet to be determined.
Belarus has witnessed an unprecedented human rights crisis over the past year, the independent expert appointed to monitor the country said on Monday, calling on authorities to immediately end their policy of repression and fully respect the legitimate aspirations of their people.
UN independent human rights experts have called for the immediate release of a jailed social media activist in Belarus amid what they described as a “black hole” for media freedoms in the country, according to a statement issued on Monday.
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has strongly condemned the arbitrary detention of an opposition journalist in Belarus, calling it an “astonishing episode” that heralds a new phase in the campaign of repression against journalists and civil society there.
The UN Secretary-General said on Monday he was “deeply concerned” over the apparent forced landing of a commercial passenger jet over Belarus, and the subsequent detention of a prominent dissident and journalist by authorities there.
The continued pattern of police brutality and impunity in Belarus must end, UN rights experts said on Thursday, expressing alarm over excessive use of force against protesters and repression of journalists in the country.
A “systematic crackdown” against dissent in Belarus is continuing, months since the country’s disputed presidential election last year, UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet has told the Human Rights Council.
More than three months on from the disputed presidential election in Belarus, the Belarusian Government continues to “wield the machinery of the State to commit human rights violations”, the Spokesperson for the UN human rights office warned on Friday.
