BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

16/05/2007

Belarus must not enter U.N.Human Rights Council - Czech senators

By Prague Daily Monitor/CTK /

Prague, May 15 (CTK) - Czech representatives to the U.N. should actively prevent Belarus from succeeding with its candidacy for U.N. Human Rights Council membership, the Czech Senate commission on support to the Belarussian democratic opposition agreed today.

Vlastimil Sehnal, the commission head, told CTK that he has already discussed the issue with Czech PM Mirek Topolanek (both Civic Democrats, ODS).

"It is important to be united," Sehnal said.

The U.N. Human Rights Council in the past repeatedly condemned the Belarussian regime for violation of fundamental freedoms. It called on the Belarussian government to stop persecuting NGOs, political parties, unions, independent media, religious organisations and people promoting human rights and democracy.

Former Czech president Vaclav Havel, too, recently condemned Belarus's candidacy for membership of the council, which is the U.N.'s main body for human rights protection.

The international community has criticised the authoritarian regime of Belarussian President Alexandr Lukashenko for a long time.

The Czech Republic, like other countries, helps Belarussian dissidents and it has admitted for university studies several dozens of Belarussian students persecuted by the regime at home.

The Czech Senate commission wants to address Czech Deputy PM Alexandr Vondra (ODS) and Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg (for the Greens) to discuss the possible lifting of the Czech visa fee from Belarussian students, Sehnal said.

Source:

http://launch.praguemonitor.com/en/85/czech_politics/6558/