Speech

Human Rights Council Interactive Dialogue on Belarus: Joint Statement on Media Freedom in Belarus

The UK's Permanent Representative in Geneva, Julian Braithwaite, delivered this statement on media freedom in Belarus on behalf of 42 states.

• From: Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office and Julian Braithwaite
• Published: 4 December 2020

This was published under the 2019 to 2022 Johnson Conservative government

• Location: Geneva, Switzerland
• Delivered on: 4 December 2020 (Transcript of the speech, exactly as it was delivered)

Thank you,

I have the honour to deliver this statement on media freedom in Belarus on behalf of 42 states.

We reaffirm our unequivocal condemnation of the targeting, harassment and detention of journalists and media workers. We are deeply concerned by the excessive use of force by the authorities against journalists, including reports of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. In a statement on 19 November, UN human rights experts strongly condemned large scale violations in Belarus, and said that peaceful protesters and journalists remain unprotected from disproportionately violent actions of security forces.

Journalists in Belarus are facing unprecedented levels of harassment. On 20 November, independent journalist Yekaterina Bakhvalova had criminal charges brought against her after filming police firing stun grenades during a memorial for murdered opposition supporter, Raman Bandarenka. A further 23 journalists were detained while covering this event.  Since May, 390 journalists have reported some form of persecution. Punishing journalists for doing their job is unacceptable, and we call on Belarus to immediately release all those detained and drop all charges against them.

We strongly urge Belarus to respect the freedom of expression for all, including for journalists and media workers. We urge Belarus to implement OSCE Moscow Mechanism report recommendations on freedom of expression and the media.

The increasing restrictions on independent media actors must stop.

Thank you.

Joint Statement on media freedom in Belarus

List of co-sponsors (42)

1. UK
2. Canada
3. Netherlands
4. Iceland
5. Norway
6. Germany
7. Ireland
8. Latvia
9. Lithuania
10. Czech Republic
11. Slovenia
12. Liechtenstein
13. New Zealand
14. Romania
15. Denmark
16. Switzerland
17. Luxembourg
18. Estonia
19. Spain
20. Sweden
21. France
22. Poland
23. Bulgaria
24. Finland
25. Hungary
26. Malta
27. Croatia
28. Monaco
29. Belgium
30. Cyprus
31. Australia
32. Slovakia
33. Portugal
34. Ukraine
35. Italy
36. Austria
37. Greece
38. Costa Rica
39. Chile
40. Japan
41. Brazil
42. Marshall Islands

Published 4 December 2020