MINSK, 30 June (BelTA) - The Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has resumed the practice of compiling reports on most high-profile cases of human rights violations in some Western countries. The report was posted on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 30 June, BelTA has learned.
“By issuing this report the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs wants to remind its colleagues in the West to look at themselves first before imposing their vision of human rights on other regions,” the ministry's press service said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is convinced that Western countries have unjustifiably assumed the role of a ‘global quasi-judge' in relation to human rights situations in other countries. At the same time, they turn a blind eye to their own problems which range from social inequality, racism and xenophobia to police violence and arbitrariness, the use of executive force in policing mass events that have led to fatalities in some cases.
“The report of the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs draws the attention of some Western governments and appropriate international organizations to these alarming signals. Belarus does not lecture or judge anyone, unlike some of our self-opinionated ‘partners'. We are in favor of a reasonable and objective approach to cooperation on all issues, including human rights,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
The report covers 21 states, including a number of countries of the European Union, the USA, the UK and Canada, which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs calls the most active ‘advocates' of economic sanctions and other restrictive measures.
“The document does not contain comparisons and ratings and does not claim to be a definitive account of the existing violations of human rights in the countries of the collective West. It describes high-profile and most outrageous actions of the governments of Western states and gives a certain legal assessment of these actions in terms of compliance of these states with their international commitments,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs explained.
The cases recounted in the report lay bare the absurdity of the situation and the hypocrisy of Western politicians as they assess the human rights situation in other countries and at home neglecting constant violations of human rights and freedoms of their citizens, violation of international law and international obligations. “This is different!” - the collective West would usually say in response to criticism as it lives by the principle described by George Orwell in his allegorical novel Animal Farm: “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others,” the ministry said.
Below are selected examples of high-profile breaches of human rights described in the Foreign Ministry's report.
USA
The Guantanamo Bay detention camp marked 19 years since it opened in 2002. Since then 780 detainees have been held at the American military prison. Only eight of them were proven guilty. Nine detainees died within the walls of the military prison.
“The U.S. criminal justice system is fraught with racial discrimination at all stages – from the police behavior and arrests to release on bail, sentencing, and imprisonment,” the report reads.
More than 2 million people are currently behind bars in the USA. The country houses 22% of the world's prison population. Representatives of racial and ethnic minorities account for 60% of people sentenced to prison.
The report of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also mentions the George Floyd case that sparked mass protests. “On 25 May 2020, George Floyd, a 46-year-old African American, was detained, tortured, and murdered by officers of the Minneapolis Police Department who restrained and suffocated him, placing him on the ground and kneeling on his neck for almost nine minutes,” the ministry pointed out in the report.
Another case described in the report is the killing of Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old African American woman, an emergency room technician, who was fatally shot in her own home by officers of the Louisville Metro Police Department.
NBC News' photojournalist Ed Ou together with 20 other journalists were covering the protests in Minneapolis on 30 May 2020. “The journalists were standing apart from the protesters, when the police fired tear gas and rubber bullets into their group and then drove them away with police batons,” the ministry's report reads.
Another high-profile case is that of 35-year-old Ashli Babbitt, one of five people killed as former President Donald Trump's supporters broke into the Capitol on 6 January 2021. The U.S. Department of Justice has refused to pursue criminal charges against the police officer who shot the woman. Ashli Babbitt was shot as she tried to climb through the broken glass window of a door to the lobby, which had been barricaded from the inside with furniture. Babbitt was shot in the left shoulder and fell backward onto the floor. She was transported to Washington Hospital Center, where she died.
“As of 11 June 2021, 500 people were arrested in the Capitol invasion case. The police and special services are actively charging the so-called enemies of the people. The hearings in the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary, which hastily labeled the events of 6 January in Washington a national threat and its participants ‘enemies of the American state' and ‘domestic terrorists', have exposed the political motivation for the persecution of protesters,” the MFA report reads.
United Kingdom
In March 2020, Travelers and people living in caravans set up a camp in Bristol protesting against the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill that, according to them, discriminates against people who live the nomadic way of life. People who joined the protests advocated for the Travelers and Roma rights. The camp was raided by the police who tore posters and tents and dispersed the protesters using dogs, horses, and drones,” the report says.
The document also describes a case of human rights violation during the COVID-19 lockdown protests in Trafalgar Square in London. The police obstructed journalists' work, saying that they were participants of the unsanctioned protests, ignoring photographers' accredited press cards. The Society of Editors said that the actions of the police were alarming and disrespectful for the freedom of press. The police arrested 190 people during the protests.
Poland
The report covers the demonstrations that took place in Warsaw this year as part of the Women's Strike campaign to protest near-total ban on abortion. For example, in January a number of central streets were blocked. The police used tear gas and force to quell the unrest. In February, during the Silence is Not Consent protest with the participation of about 80 people, protesters blocked a busy Warsaw intersection. The police tried to push the activists onto the sidewalk, which ended up in clashes. One of the activists was detained and taken to a police station.
“On 31 May 2021, Janusz Niedźwiecki, a Polish journalist, activist and human rights defender, was detained by force on preposterous espionage charges. Relatives and lawyers are not allowed to see the journalist. Relatives suspect that Janusz is being tortured to extract confessions and incriminate himself. A simple request for an interview and commentary was treated by the Polish investigation as ‘establishing contacts'. Janusz Niedźwiecki faces up to 10 years in prison,” the report reads.
“Widespread promotion of Western-style democracy and one-sided interpretation of international human rights laws serve the political and economic goals of the Western ruling elites, but they undermine international relations and sustainable development of states,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasized.
