Opinions & Interviews

Yuri Ambrazevich was confident that the dialogue would benefit both sides. “In the end open interaction allows improving internal public and political processes. Only doing so can secure any changes in any society,” he believes.

It is the second report prepared by the Belarusian Foreign Ministry on such matters. Speaking about the response to the report presented in 2013, Yuri Ambrazevich noted that the response was quite interesting and the official attitude of some countries was somewhat surprising. At the same time, in his words, the European Union noted that it is ready to interact with Belarus in human rights matters and hear out sound criticism.

Yuri Ambrazevich also said that the previous week he had had a number of meetings with officials of the U.S. Department of State. Among other things the sides mentioned that the countries have something to work on. The USA was also made familiar with the part of the report that concerns the country. In early March the USA will release a report on human rights and the Belarusian side will be able to familiarize itself with the U.S. view on Belarus. Such reports will be prepared on an annual basis, added the Belarusian Foreign Ministry representative.

The Head of the Central Office for Multilateral Diplomacy noted that Belarus has no intention of teaching somebody a lesson. Instead Belarus’ efforts are limited to registering violations. “We learn on our own. We work with international organizations and these efforts are meant to bring certain experience to our country,” said the Foreign Ministry representative. There are no ideal countries in the entire world and it is true for Belarus, too, stressed the official.

Belarus is working on the recommendations that were given in 2010 on the basis of the universal periodic review of the situation on human rights. A total of 74 recommendations were given back then. A significant number of them dealt with the accession to or the ratification of a number of international documents. The recommendations also covered women rights, capital punishment, civil society, and torture. Yuri Ambrazevich stated that Belarus had reached virtually all the millennium development goals. Serious efforts are put into fighting slave trade. The balance of equality between men and women has been formed. Rights of children are being taken care of. In the near future the ratification of the convention on the rights of people with disabilities will be taken care of.