Ambrazevich: international organisations have no claims against Belarus on refugee issue
The leadership of the secretariat of international organisations has no complaints or accusations against Belarus that our country violates any norms of international law – as informed by Yury Ambrazevich, the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Belarus to the UN Office and other international organisations in Geneva
According to the diplomat, Belarus is in constant contact with the secretariats of international organisations located in Geneva – especially in recent weeks and days of escalation of the situation on the Polish border. “In recent days, the dialogue has also been expanded at a high level. Meetings took place with the High Commissioner for Refugees, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, with the head of the secretariat of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, and with the leadership of the UNICEF regional office in Geneva. During these meetings, messages of Belarus’ Foreign Minister, Vladimir Makei, were voiced to the heads of these organisations,” he said.
Mr. Ambrazevich noted that the main political interest of Belarus in the issue of migration in recent years has been to constantly draw attention of the international community to the root causes of a huge number of displaced persons, migrants and refugees. According to the latest data, as of mid-November 2021, there were 84m displaced persons in the world, including 26.5m of refugees. Asia and Africa are the main regions of origin of these persons.
“We see continuous reports of a number of European channels about the events in Greece, Italy, and the UK. Therefore, the position of the European Commission officials in Brussels – when they call to comply with international obligations in the field of work with refugees, on the one hand, while demonstrating unity with obvious violations in the actions of Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia, on the other hand – can be called disingenuous,” Mr. Ambrazevich stressed.
It should be recalled that the topic of migration and refugees advanced to the forefront in 2015, when the Syrian crisis entered its acute phase. At the same time, the famous migration crisis in the European Union arose. Since then, Germany alone accepted more than 1m refugees. The same migration crisis caused a split in the unified position within the European Union. A number of countries, including our neighbours – Poland and the Baltic States [Poland, Lithuania, Latvia], do not share the EU position on the need to accept refugees. To a certain extent, they opposed, among other things, their international obligations under the Refugee Convention and the entire set of customary international norms. Against the background of the current violation by Poland, Lithuania and Latvia of international law in the field of the institution of refugee status and the right to asylum, other EU states continue to accept hundreds and sometimes even thousands of refugees every day.
