Belarus NGO’s calls on the UN to hold a special session on Human Rights violation

Amnesty International and 16 other international NGOs wrote a joint letter to the United Nations Human Rights Council to request them for organizing a special meeting to address the human rights violation that has been happening in Belarus during and following the 2020 presidential elections. 

As per the Washington Post reports, the Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko declared re-election a success, gaining around 80 percent of the vote, the widespread protests in Minsk and other urban communities began since then. The protestors are maintaining their demand for a fresh election.

The Belarusian government had reacted with rough restraint, beating and detaining many dissenters protesting on the streets. The administration had shutdown newspapers and social media sites to take control the growing protests. 

Police started utilizing additional force with rubber bullets, stun guns, and water cannons against the demonstrators. The police also ill treated, tormented the protestors after arrest says Marie Struthers, an Amnesty International’s Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia expressed. 

The UN Human Rights Council should order a global probe concerning basic human rights violations and wrongdoings under international law, Struthers added.

As indicated by Viasna Human Rights Center, around 450 of the detainees stated that they were being tormented, including serious beatings, abused, and ill-treated for as long as 10 days. 

According to Amnesty, the government has taken measures to de-heighten the circumstance, abstaining from mass detentions, and releasing all those arrested. 

But, with the latest deployment of the army in the country’s capital Minsk and elsewhere made by President Alyaksandr Lukashenka recently has threatened the peaceful protestors, However, it signals a potential new loop of violence and human rights violation, Amnesty reported.

Article Credit: The Amnesty/ The Washington Post