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The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Linas Linkevičius attended the 34th session of the UN Human Rights Council on 27-28 February and spoke in the high-level segment. In his address to the Human Rights Council, Lithuania’s Foreign Minister stressed that in order to improve the difficult human rights situation in the world, all countries should make joint efforts to strengthen the three main pillars of the United Nations system – human rights, peace and security, and development.

Lithuania’s Foreign Minister also noted that the Human Rights Council’s session began with a commemoration of the illegal annexation of Crimea by Russia that had started three years earlier.

“The ongoing killings in eastern Ukraine and Crimea, sexual violence, kidnapping, torture, and selective persecution of the Crimean Tatars are happening due to a systematic application of a repressive policy model by the occupation regime, and constitute a gross violation of international law,” said Lithuania’s Foreign Minister.

Linkevičius stressed that by using similar measures, Russian-occupied regions of Georgia had been turned into grey areas, where principles of international law did not apply. In this regard, Lithuania’s Foreign Minister called on the Human Rights Council to adopt a resolution on Georgia, which was being discussed for the first time, and to implement the United Nations resolution on the human rights situation in Russian-occupied Crimea, also to condemn countries that did not comply with international law and used every possible excuse to avoid taking responsibility for their actions.

The head of Lithuania’s diplomacy emphasized the vital role of the press and of journalists both in public life and in the process of decision making. Furthermore, Linkevičius underscored that Lithuania did not tolerate any attacks on journalists nor the use of the media to instigate aggressive behaviour and to spread military propaganda in any way.

According to Lithuania’s Foreign Minister, the United Nations should act unanimously in order to ensure, protect and promote all basic human rights and fundamental freedoms. At the same time, Linkevičius informed that Lithuania had started campaigning for election to the Human Rights Council for the term 2022-2024.

The Human Rights Council is an inter-governmental body within the United Nations system that was created by the United Nations General Assembly on 15 March 2006. The Council is responsible for strengthening the promotion and protection of human rights and freedoms, and for addressing situations of human rights violations. The Council also makes recommendations on them. The Council is made up of 47 United Nations member states, which meet to discuss all human rights issues and situations that require the Council’s attention throughout the year.