38 OSCE countries initiate inspection of human rights violations in Belarus
Thirty-eight member states of Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe on Thursday used so-called Moscow Mechanism to examine "threats to implementation of human dimension provisions arising from human rights violations in Republic of Belarus."
It was reported by OSCE, informs Censor.NЕТ referring to Ukrainian Truth.
The OSCE Moscow Mechanism allows participating States to send expert missions to assist in addressing a specific issue or problem related to the OSCE human dimension.
The 38 participating States that have invoked the Moscow Mechanism in this case include, among others, almost all European Union member states, as well as Switzerland, Ukraine, the United Kingdom as well as the United States.
As the foreign ministries of the initiating countries explained in their corresponding statements, since the last use of the Moscow Mechanism with regard to Belarus in September 2020, "the Belarusian authorities have failed to respond to serious allegations of violations and abuses" and have completely ignored its recommendations.
"Moreover, the Belarusian authorities have taken further actions that deepen and broaden our concerns about Belarus' implementation of OSCE human dimension commitments, in particular through continued assistance to the Russian Federation's aggressive war against Ukraine," the statements read.
The initiators of the Moscow Mechanism on Belarus expect the experts to establish and report on the facts concerning human rights violations, as well as to provide Belarus, the OSCE and the international community with recommendations on possible ways to resolve the issues raised.
As a reminder, the last time the OSCE Moscow Mechanism was activated was on July 28, 2022, concerning the Russian Federation.
