Belarus: The UN Commissioner will search for human rights violations in Belarus.

Protest in Belarus

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The UN Human Rights Council has approved a resolution proposed by the EU, which instructs the office of Commissioner Michelle Bachelet to monitor the situation of human rights violations in Belarus. Opposition leader Sviatlana Cichanouska has previously called on the UN to respond as decisively as possible to repression against protesters against the rigging of the presidential election. The UN Special Rapporteur in Geneva warned against opening another Iron Curtain in Europe, but Lukashenko's words about closing the borders with Lithuania and Poland have not yet come true. Police, on the other hand, accused another leading opposition leader, Maxim Znak,.

The resolution calls on Minsk to allow for an independent, transparent and impartial investigation into all allegations of human rights violations, as well as to bring the perpetrators to justice. He also called on the government to work with the UN Special Rapporteur, but this has never happened since the post was created. Bachelet is due to report on the situation in the country by the end of the year. He also has to make recommendations for further action.

Russia tried to avert the adoption of the resolution, it also proposed 17 amendments, but all were rejected. He has no voting rights in the Human Rights Council. In the end, 23 states, including the Czech Republic, voted in favor of the resolution, Venezuela and Eritrea were against and 22 abstained.

According to TASS, before the vote, the Kremlin regretted the biased and politicized debate in the Human Rights Council, provoked by a group of aggressive states. According to the Russian representative on the council, allegations of human rights violations in Belarus are nothing more than an attempt to influence the election results, destabilize the situation and provoke a political crisis through pressure and threats.

The Belarusian Foreign Ministry described the adoption of the resolution as another stage of persecution of Belarus by the European Union as well as violations of the United Nations Charter which prohibits interference in the internal affairs of any state, said the Belarusian state agency Belta.

Challenge of the opposition

Cichanouska previously called in Geneva, the situation in Belarus requires immediate international attention. Peaceful protesters are being illegally detained, beaten and raped. Some have lost their lives. She accused the Alexander Lukashenko regime of violating its own human rights obligations by brutally suppressing protests, giving the international community the right to react with the utmost stubbornness until Minsk begins to respect international standards again. At the same time, the opposition leader expressed her willingness to engage in dialogue with the authorities in order to resolve the crisis.

Let us not allow another Iron Curtain to be launched on the European continent, Anais Marin, who was appointed UN Special Rapporteur, called on the UN Human Rights Council. In the human rights debate in Belarus, she described the situation as catastrophic. According to Reuters, her speech was interrupted several times by objections from Russia, Belarus and other delegations.

Belarusian police, meanwhile, have accused another leader of the Znaka opposition of calling for actions that threaten national security. According to the Tut.by server, the character immediately announced that he was starting a protest hunger strike. Prosecution with the same accusation was initiated by the Prosecutor General's Office on Wednesday against Mary Kalesnikova.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) also spoke out against the regime. It wants to suspend funding for new projects in Belarus. According to a Reuters source, this is part of the European Union's measures.

On Thursday, a board meeting was held where this was clearly stated, the source said, that no projects are planned. The EIB has already invested 550 million euros (14.7 billion crowns) in Belarus since the signing of the first project in mid-2017.

The borders remain open

Lukashenko announced on Thursday that he would close the borders with Poland and Lithuania, which are among the strongest critics of his regime and will also strengthen border protection with Ukraine.

The authoritarian president, who has ruled the country with a hard hand for 26 years said, we are forced to withdraw troops from the streets, call in half the army and close the state border from the west especially with Lithuania and Poland.

However, the border crossings still work and border guards check passengers there when entering and leaving the country. The Belarusian Border Guard announced that it had strengthened control and that reinforcements had been sent to the border.

AFP recalls that Lukashenko has mobilized the army several times and sent it to the border including on the border with Russia. He claimed throughout the spring that Moscow wanted to get rid of him because it was preventing the country from becoming a Russian vassal. But after the election, he turned 180 degrees to gain Russian support in the face of mass protests. Minsk now reports that protests are being driven by the West to conquer Belarus as a platform against Russia.

Protests against falsifying the results of the August presidential election continue in a number of Belarusian cities for the sixth week in a row, despite harsh interventions by security forces. Every Sunday, according to estimates by the opposition and journalists, there are 100,000 demonstrations in Minsk alone, demanding Lukashenko's departure and a new election of head of state.