ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
April 15, 2005 Friday
UN rights committee adopts anti-Belarus resolution
By Konstantin Pribytkov
GENEVA
Western countries rallied at the UN human rights commission on
Thursday to secure approval of an anti-Belarus resolution.
Twenty-three out of the 53 members of the Commission voted for the
document, with more than half the members either opposing or
abstaining.
However, the resolution was eventually passed, as the Commission’s
regulation allow approval by a simple majority.
Among the states objecting to the resolution were Russia, China,
Cuba, Armenia, Indonesia, South Africa, Egypt and some other
countries.
Ukraine, together with EU countries and the United States, supported
the resolution. Before the beginning of the voting, Ukraine came out
against the proposal by the Russian delegation not to consider the
resolution on Belarus. As a result, Moscow’s initiative was rejected
by a margin of one vote.
“It’s a sad day for the Commission. A heavy blow was dealt to its
reputation,” Russian permanent representative at the UN’s Geneva
office Leonid Skotnikov told Itar-Tass.
He said he was surprised at how Ukraine had voted.
Belarussian ambassador Sergei Aleinik, for his part, stated at the
session that the resolution was yet another attempt to present to the
international community a distorted view of his country and excuse
interference in its internal affairs.
“We are disappointed and bewildered by Ukraine’s vote. The neighbors
who respect each other, do not behave themselves in this manner,” the
diplomat told reporters.
The resolution on Belarus extends by one year the mandate of the
human rights rapporteur, former Romanian foreign minister Adrian
Severin.
In the report at the present session, he pointed at that the
Belarussian people lacked identity and claimed that the country poses
a threat to regional security and stability.
He also insisted on the necessity of changing the Belarus government,
as well as on radical restructuring of the Belarussian society.
Aside from the resolution on Belarus, Ukraine also supported the
West-proposed resolutions on Cuba and North Korea. Russia voted
against these documents.