At the 46th session of the UN Human Rights Council, Belarus made a speech on behalf of a group of countries on Friday to express deep concerns about systemic human rights violations and abuses in the EU Member States and the United Kingdom and strongly urged the EU and the U.K. to address those systemic issues and improve in the field of human rights. Here's the full text:   

Madam President,

I have the honor to speak on behalf of a group of countries, including Iran, Burundi, China, DPRK, Nicaragua, Russia, Syria, Sri Lanka, Venezuela and my own country Belarus.

We reaffirm that the work of the Human Rights Council shall be guided by the principles of universality, impartiality, objectivity and non-selectivity, constructive international dialogue and cooperation.

Along with human rights mechanisms, we express our concern about the warring deterioration of the situation of human rights in EU Member States and the United Kingdom.

In particular, we are concerned about credible reports of systemic human rights violations, particularly those involving hate speech and crimes, glorification of Nazism, racial and ethnic discrimination, violation of rights of migrants, refugees and non-accompanied children and indigenous peoples, child sexual abuse, shrinking space for civil society, restrictions on peaceful assembly and associations, freedom of expression, excessive use of force against demonstrators.

We also express our deep concern at credible allegations of human rights violations during COVID-19 pandemic in many EU countries as well as the United Kingdom. We deplore the numerous use of force by the police against desperate people for exercising their human rights, including water cannons and other special means in Austria, Belgium, Germany, France, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Poland, the United Kingdom. Moreover, we regret the lack of adequate health protection of older persons and other most vulnerable groups which costed lives of those who could have had survived the pandemic.

Although some EU Member States promised to send standing invitations to mandate holders of the special procedures, they failed to fulfill their commitment. Some countries have not been accepting visits of special procedures for years or numerously postponing them, which causes a lack of comprehensive and first-hand information about measures in addressing systemic challenges in the field of human rights.

In view of the large scope of human rights violations and abuses in the EU and the United Kingdom, we request OHCHR and special procedures along with the international civil society to strengthen monitoring and documenting such violations, regularly report and make recommendations to the Council especially on those issues, that require urgent consideration and actions.

We strongly urge EU Member States and the United Kingdom to fully comply with their international obligations in the field of human rights and take effective measures to address the systemic human rights violations.

We also strongly urge the EU and the United Kingdom to stop adopting, maintaining or implementing all unilateral coercive measures as they violate international law, international humanitarian law, the Charter of the United Nations and the norms and principles governing peaceful relations among States.

I thank you, Madam President.