NUCLEAR POWER IN BELARUS AND WORLDWIDE
MINSK, 2 March (BelTA) – If the position of the adepts of liberal democracy does not change, then human rights will be knocked off the pedestal where they were placed by the victors in the Cold War, Belarusian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Yuri Ambrazevich said as he delivered a statement at the High-Level Segment of the 52nd session of the UN Human Rights Council on 1 March 2023.
"I can say with full authority that no one will be able to convince the Belarusian delegation that the situation with human rights situation in our country is so much worse than the situation in any other that it requires close consideration in the HRC. No one is perfect, and Belarus is no exception, but the objective criteria for such a comparison and even more so for a legal assessment do not exist. All UN participants are both equal and different at the same time," Yuri Ambrazevich said.
The Belarusian diplomat expressed doubt that the topic of human rights will be able to remain on the agenda of international cooperation and become part of a future international architecture, which, sooner or later, will replace the existing one and will serve a new system of global security.
"If the position of the adepts of liberal democracy does not change, then human rights will be knocked off the pedestal where they were placed by the victors of the Cold War, since their dominance in the world is in very serious question. As I have said once, there will be deinstitutionalization and desacralization of the concept of human rights in international relations. Many will say it can't be because it can never be. However, the current crisis in the field of global security teaches us to doubt the most unshakable postulates," the deputy minister emphasized.
"What Belarus is sure of is that the unilateral economic restrictions and prohibitions imposed by the United States and its allies against our country flagrantly violate the human rights documents. If there is no opportunity for development, there is no possibility of realizing human rights. In a crisis, in the context of acute external pressure and other emerging challenges, when people's needs must be met, when order must be maintained, and the state apparatus is limited in resources and management mechanisms, society seeks consolidation and require firm leadership. If we follow the logic of liberal democrats, then the human rights approach must be applied literally everywhere, even to the issue of waste management and recycling. That is why it is even easier for Belarus to demonstrate the violation of human rights by West,” Yuri Ambrazevich said.
It is obvious that the prohibition by the government of Lithuania on the transit of Belarusian fertilizers through Lithuania to the seaports deprives hundreds of millions of citizens in the least developed countries of the ability to live free from poverty and hunger, the Belarusian diplomat said.
“Poland's restrictions on crossing the border with Belarus have violated the right to work for tens of thousands of carriers - citizens of Poland, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Belarus and other countries. The ban imposed by the USA and European Union countries on flights to Belarus deprived millions of people around the world the right to freedom of movement. The ban on the participation of Belarusian athletes in international competitions violates their rights to protection from discrimination on the basis of citizenship or freedom of opinion. The prohibition on TV channels from a certain country violates the rights of hundreds of millions of Europeans and Americans to access to information and freedom of opinion and conviction,” the diplomat said.
He urged the members of the Human Rights Council to think about these facts when someone tries to prove how terrible it is to live in Belarus. “You'd better come and see for yourselves. Spring is the best time to visit my country,” Yuri Ambrazevich said.
