Belarus' Foreign Ministry Report “The Most Resonant Human Rights Violations in Certain Countries” (2023)

The report on the human rights situation in certain states of the world, prepared by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus, is a logical continuation of the established practice of the Foreign Ministry's extensive coverage of the entrenched systemic problems experienced by Western societies in the field of human rights.

This paper is not intended to judge any country on the basis of its human rights record. No state is perfect in this regard. It would be naive to assume that the social patterns of some countries can be a universal yardstick for other states with different histories, cultures, and lifestyles. Equally absurd would be an attempt to pass a verdict or give a grade to someone, which, incidentally, is often a sin of the Western countries themselves.

The information contained in the report is based, in addition to media reports, on information from the universal periodic review reports of the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC), conclusions of the special procedures of the HRC and international human rights bodies and reports of regional and national NGOs.

The report demonstrates a common configuration of problems, typical for all Western countries: systemic discrimination in society, almost daily dispersals of peaceful protesters advocating improved socio-economic rights, violations of the rights of refugees and migrants, blocking access to media that broadcast an alternative governmental point of view. All of this is vividly illustrated in the report by specific cases that openly demonstrate the double standards of Western countries with regard to respect for human rights at home and in other states.  

Ensuring human rights is, first and foremost, an internal affair of every state, as it constitutes an important part of the daily work of all organs of the state machinery. And Western countries are no exception.

Each country is unique in its diversity and there is no single recipe that can be applied to all societies. Unfortunately, this understanding is woefully lacking in many people today.

No one in today's world doubts the importance of human rights. But everyone needs to get rid of the false belief that there is a universal consensus on some ideal or acceptable international standard of implementation of the concept of human rights.

Mutual respectful dialogue and consideration of the national peculiarities of the development of each particular country must be decisive in inter-State relations, including on human rights, as Belarus had always called for. 

Sergei Aleinik, 
Minister of Foreign Affairs 
of the Republic of Belarus