Situation at the Belarus border discussed with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
On 15 November, Heads of Permanent Missions of Baltic States and Poland in Geneva, met with the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Ms. Michelle Bachelet and handed over the Joint Statement/Demarche calling for reaction to the artificially created crisis on the EU-Belarus border, while maintaining attention to serious human rights violations in Belarus.
Representatives of the Permanent Missions in Geneva, informed the High Commissioner on the dire situation on the border with Belarus, stressed that Belarus conducts a state-sponsored hybrid operation against the European Union, and condemned the cynical use of innocent third-country citizens to achieve its political goals. They also reminded that Belarusian regime continues persecution of journalists, national minorities and there are more than 800 political prisoners.
Chargé d‘Affaires of Lithuania in Geneva Mr. Donatas Tamulaitis said that the Belarusian regime is using disinformation to escalate the crisis and emphasized the importance for the international community, including the Office of the High Commissioner’s for Human Rights, to present information about the situation in an objective manner, as well as to urge Belarusian authorities to stop violating human rights and fundamental freedoms, and to cynically instrumentalise vulnerable people at the European Union’s border.
D. Tamulaitis stressed that Lithuania fully supports active involvement of international organizations in ensuring the provision of humanitarian aid and organising return of migrants to their countries of origin.
