Valyantin Stefanovuch: Belarusan MFA makes the world laugh

A human rights activist finds funny the report on human rights violations in Western countries released by the Belarusian MFA.

“It's funny to hear from a representative of one of the most authoritarian countries of the world about such a report,” Valyantin Stefanovich said to charter97.org in an interview.

The human rights activist noted that one cannot compare violations of rights of Belarusians and residents of the EU member states.

“Of course, human rights violations can be found in any country. But unlike Belarus, Europe has independent courts and media, so none rights abuses can go unnoticed. The Europeans have the opportunity to apply to the European Court of Human Rights. It has enough power to record violations and demand to bring the national legislation of a EU member state in line with European democratic norms,” the human rights activist said.

Valyantin Stefanovich emphasised that the report was presented by the Belarusian foreign minister.

“This fact is most likely to be connected to the talks that Uladzimir Makei has been holding with foreign diplomats since the end of last year. I hope the problem of Belarusian political prisoners was raised there. Taking into account that the authorities don't want to release them, they need new arguments,” the human rights activist noted.

Valyantin Stefanovich turned attention to the fact that human rights activists in Western countries can collect information about human rights abuses, but it is impossible in Belarus.

“You can be jailed for human rights activity. The authorities refused to allow entry to the country for the UN special rapporteur on human rights, though Belarus is a member of this organisation,” Valyantin Stefanovich noted.

It should be reminded that the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs prepared the report “On Human Rights Violations in Certain countries in 2012”.

The report contains facts of “human rights violations” in 23 European countries, including Poland, Austria, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Germany, France and the UK, as well as in the US and Canada.