MINSK, 18 March (BelTA) – Belarus insists on an unbiased evaluation of violent actions of police in the UK, Netherlands, and Poland. Permanent Representative of the Republic of Belarus to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Andrei Dapkiunas made the relevant statement at a session of the OSCE Permanent Council on 18 March, the press service of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs told BelTA.
Andrei Dapkiunas said: “For the last few months under the close and even exaggerated attention of a number of OSCE member states we've been trying to shift the operation of the OSCE Permanent Council to a constructive mode and have been calling for finding uniting elements in our work. Since while talking about Belarus some speakers insisted it is of overriding priority to honestly and critically look at each other, we've also decided to take a closer look at the observation of human rights in the OSCE space. We would like to use the opportunity and support the Russian Federation's speech, which we believe is quite reasonable and relies on facts.”
Andrei Dapkiunas noted that “only a handful of the latest stories have been widely publicized and cannot be disregarded if we are to seriously aspire for objectivity and an equal approach within the framework of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe”.
Andrei Dapkiunas said: “We are concerned about brutal actions of London's police during a vigil in memory of the murdered Sarah Everard in Clapham in southeast London on 13 March. Social networks contain videos of police officers using excessive force to apprehend a number of peaceful and unarmed women. The chief of London's police claims that her subordinates had acted in full compliance with the law. Does the OSCE hear the UK's growing indignation about this story?”
Andrei Dapkiunas is convinced that the disproportionate use of force by law enforcement officers in Netherlands also requires an unbiased evaluation. A peaceful demonstration against the government's policy on resolving the COVID-19 pandemic crisis in the Hague on 14 March was violently dispersed by police on horseback. Twenty peaceful demonstrators were arrested. Once again police used water cannons, batons, and dogs against demonstrators, including those who did not show any aggression. One protester was attacked by a dog when he was already on the ground and defenseless. Social media are particularly revolted by a video of a plainclothes police officer pushing a woman against a police van and beating her.
“We are also worried by police using gas, excessive physical force, and by mass arrests during massive protests that have been going on in Poland since November 2020 as part of the women's strike campaign and the freedom marches of corona skeptics,” Andrei Dapkiunas stated.
The diplomat stated that problems are not limited to these events: “I would like to mention our joint statement with Russia on the situation with human rights in the European Union and the UK, which was made together with a number of countries during the 46th session of the UN Human Rights Council on 12 March.”
In conclusion Andrei Dapkiunas noted: “With our speech we don't intend to draw attention away from pressing problems in our country. We persistently work on them and we constantly inform our colleagues in the OSCE about it in response to their criticism. We expect they will reciprocate.”
