Posted:
14.07.2022 11:17:00
How is it different?
Torture, beating, illegal detentions, violation of the rights to freedom and life: the Ministry of Foreign Affairs presented evidence of the duplicity of adherents of ‘democratic values’
The Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has published the report ‘The most resonant human rights violations in certain countries 2022’. Austria, Belgium, Great Britain, Germany, Spain, Italy, Canada, France and many other states that are most worried about the observance of human rights on the world stage, themselves turned out to be far from this role model. Some examples presented in the report make one’s blood curdle. The ministry emphasises that the report is not a comprehensive study that claims to be a deep scientific analysis of the processes taking place in foreign countries. The core basis of the document is a reflection of facts, open data and visual materials that are in the public domain.
UK: anti-Semitism and malnutrition
Apparently, the words about the importance of the climate agenda from European officials are just an empty phrase. Judge for yourself: protesters against climate change (124 movement activists) were arrested 629 times during 13 actions. There is another dangerous trend in the UK: in 2021, 2,255 anti-Semitism facts were registered in the country. This is 30 percent more than in any previous year.
The British are also deprived of the right to a decent standard of living for a citizen and his or her family (adequate food, clothing and housing) and the continuous improvement of living conditions.As The Guardian recently wrote, about 2 million adults in the UK have gone without food for a whole day over the past month because they could not afford to eat. In addition, millions of people, including 2.6 million children, reported eating less than usual, regularly skipping meals or not eating when hungry.
Poland: brawn instead of brain
Polish law enforcement officers felt their impunity so much that they began to allow themselves anything. Information about their abuse of power just flooded the information space. So, on September 6th, 2021, it became known that on August 2nd, 2021, a 29-year-old Polish citizen Longiewski was detained by six local police officers using physical force (expandable batons, gas), after which he was taken to the hospital, where he died the same day from cardiac arrest in Wroclaw.
A couple of days before, on July 30th, 2021, three employees of the prevention department of the local police commandant’s office beat a citizen of Ukraine Dmitry Nikiforenko to death in the city sobering-up centre.
Latvia: hatred and discrimination
The authorities of Latvia chose to completely abandon freedom of speech: they are pursuing a targeted policy of strengthening censorship and cleaning up the information field of the country with the use of administrative and criminal sanctions.Citizens and non-citizens of Latvia are deprived of alternative sources of information – viewing prohibited media is punishable by a fine of €700. Legal entity may be fined up to €14,000 for distributing programmes of banned TV-channels or broadcasting them. Statements from high-ranking officials are starting to sound increasingly Nazi-like.
Hate speech has become the norm for politicians in Latvia. In particular, Jānis Iesalnieks, MP from the ruling party, spoke about the Russian-speaking population of Latvia during the parliamentary debate on the law on the demolition of monuments in May 2022, “I learned that there are two societies at about the age of five: there are our Latvians and there are occupiers.” This politician made a statement regarding the inhabitants of Latvia, who laid flowers at the monuments on May 9th-10th, 2022, “It is very good that they were shown, these disgusting faces. We will demolish this object in Riga, so sacred for disgusting muzzles.” This is more than a disrespect for human rights. This is open discrimination.
Spain: complete concern
23 people died during an attempt to cross the fence between Nador (Morocco) and Melilla (Spain) on June 24th, 2022. What did they do in Spain? Maybe they paid more attention to the safety of migrants and refugees? No, they just listened to the International Organisation for Migration and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, who are deeply saddened and concerned about this fact.
The Spaniards, apparently, confidently believe that they can do whatever they want with the lives of migrants. 955 migrants, including at least 80 children, have died at sea while trying to reach Spain from the coast of West Africa.Poor governance and a lack of accommodation facilities on the islands have led to an unnecessary suffering due to overcrowding and substandard conditions in reception facilities.
USA: ‘bulwark of democracy’
According to the U.S. media, in 2021 there were 693 mass shootings, up 10.1 percent from 2020. More than 44,000 people were killed as a result of gun violence.
The country’s leadership is also unable to protect the population from police violence. According to data compiled by Mapping Police Violence, at least 1,124 people were killed by the police in 2021. The majority of killings occurred during non-violent offenses or when there was no crime at all. USA TODAY website reported that the police have fatally shot more than 6,300 people since 2015, but only 91 officers have been arrested for murder or manslaughter stemming from on-duty shootings, which represents a little more than 1 percent of fatal shootings.
Lithuania: torture and secret prisons
Our neighbours have been tainted by torture. On December 21st, 2021, the Lithuanian Ministry of Justice paid compensation to Palestinian Abu Zubaydah for illegal detention in a secret CIA prison near Vilnius. The fact that the European Court of Human Rights ordered Lithuania to pay this compensation refutes Lithuania’s denial of hosting such prisons.Lithuanian authorities evade investigation into their involvement in torture in secret CIA prisons. The issue of accountability for these crimes remains open.Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism Fionnuala D. Ní Aoláin recalled that the European Court of Human Rights recognised Lithuania, along with a number of other states, as complicit in the torture and enforced disappearance of prisoners under the U.S. rendition and secret detention programmes.
Surprisingly, political stance is the basis for persecution and restriction of freedom in ‘democratic’ Lithuania. In July 2021, the Šiauliai District Court sentenced opposition politician Algirdas Paleckis to six years in prison for allegedly spying for Russia. The politician pleaded not guilty. He believes that he was prosecuted for dissent.
Belarusian Minister of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Makei,
“The report outlines the contours of an internal crisis deeply rooted in Western states, namely, the fact that the political elites cannot care less about the real needs of their people. In pursuit of omnipotence in the world, in a bid to teach other states how they should live, the political leadership of these countries has no time for its citizens. Some examples of such a ‘cancel culture’ in respect to ordinary people include systemic discrimination, violent crackdown on peaceful protests happening on almost a daily basis, violations of rights of refugees and migrants, blocking access to the media, etc.”
“The report outlines the contours of an internal crisis deeply rooted in Western states, namely, the fact that the political elites cannot care less about the real needs of their people. In pursuit of omnipotence in the world, in a bid to teach other states how they should live, the political leadership of these countries has no time for its citizens. Some examples of such a ‘cancel culture’ in respect to ordinary people include systemic discrimination, violent crackdown on peaceful protests happening on almost a daily basis, violations of rights of refugees and migrants, blocking access to the media, etc.”
By Svetlana Isaenok
