MFA report “Human Rights Violations in Certain Countries in 2012”

Human rights, historically being the area of relations between the society and the government, an element of a purely internal policies, have started to play a role of a tool for foreign politics in the modern world. The relationship between states on human rights issues abandons the principle of equality of partners, pursuing various paths of development with one common objective being the prosperity of their citizens, while becoming associated with diktat, pressure and imposition of their «solely accurate opinion». Criticisms in the area of human rights first and foremost target developing countries.

The idea behind this report is to draw attention to the human rights violations in those countries that traditionally represent themselves as «developed democracies», to illustrate by concrete facts their failure to comply with international legal obligations and, no less importantly, spotlight the victims that are traditionally given a blind eye by violating states as well as by international organizations operating in the area of human rights.

Ignoring problems leads to impunity and as is substantiated by this report to the deterioration of the human rights record. This serves as a testimony that human rights are not about elites or retrogrades, mentors or pupils.

The report by Belarus’ Foreign Ministry is based upon the information from

the Belarusian diplomatic missions, the media as well as other reliable open

sources. We did not seek to provide a complete picture of the situation of

human rights in the countries in question, but rather we have tried to draw

attention to the most resonant human rights violations in 2012.

Vladimir Makei

Minister of Foreign Affairs

Republic of Belarus