Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s election opponent Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya made a speech at Friday’s UN Security Council meeting via video link and called for sending a monitoring mission to Belarus.
According to her, Belarus is now being embroiled in protests; its citizens are being detained, beaten and imprisoned. The people’s major demands are putting an end to violence, releasing political prisoners and holding free elections, but Alyaksandr Lukashenka who ‘is holding on his power like grim death’ has turned a deaf ear to them, Tsikhanouskaya stressed.
“We ask the United Nations to condemn the use of excessive force by the Belarusian security services against protesters. We suggest a special session of the United Nations Human Rights Council to discuss the human rights situation in Belarus. We urge the United Nations to send an immediate international monitoring mission to Belarus to document the situation on the ground,” she said.
In her opinion, Lukashenka’s regime which is ‘morally bankrupt’ and ‘legally questionable’ cannot represent Belarus anymore.
The politician called on the UN to condemn violent acts committed by the country’s security forces and to convene a special session of the UN Human Rights Council to discuss the situation in Belarus.
Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya believes that cooperation with pro-Lukashenka government is nothing but supporting brutal force and gross human rights violations in Belarus. The international community must use all mechanisms to stop violence, including sanctions against those responsible for the crimes, she added.
