Svetlana Tikhanovskaya to speak at UNSC on Estonia's initiative
Belarusian opposition presidential candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya will speak at the United Nations Security Council on the initiative of Estonia on Friday to discuss human rights.
On the initiative of Estonia and backed by other UN member states, a high-level Arria-formula meeting will be held.
An overview of the state of human rights in Belarus will be given via video link by the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Belarus, Anais Marin; the Belarusian opposition presidential candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya; the Vice-Chairman of the Viasna Human Rights Center, Valiantsin Stefanovic; and the Legal Expert for the Belarusian Association of Journalists, Volha Siakhovich.
The meeting will be chaired by Minister of Foreign Affairs of Estonia Urmas Reinsalu (Isamaa).
Reinsalu said the news from this weekend about the deportation of foreign journalists and accreditation cancellations demonstrates the importance of providing information about the events in Belarus.
Thousands of peaceful demonstrators remain in detention and hundreds of people have disappeared.
Representatives of the UN have repeatedly expressed concern over the current human rights situation in Belarus.
Reinsalu said: "Estonia considers it important to give a forum to those who are being silenced. The Security Council is among the most powerful international fora for this purpose, and public pressure can help reduce violence and grave human rights violations."
The Security Council has a special role in the prevention of violent conflict. The Security Council has previously drawn attention to the fact that severe human rights violations may be an early indicator of conflict with international implications.
The meeting was initiated by Estonia and co-organised by UN Security Council members the United States and United Kingdom, as well as Canada, Denmark, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, and Ukraine. The virtual meeting is open to all UN member states.
Technical support for the event is provided by the Estonian company Global Virtual Solutions.
We must keep the world's attention on what is happening in #Belarus & hear from those whose voice is being suppressed.
— Estonian MFA ???????? (@MFAestonia) September 3, 2020
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Editor: Helen Wright
