World News Tsikhanouskaya calls for U.N. to send out monitoring mission to Belarus – Reuters UK

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya called on the United Nations on Friday to condemn the crackdown by President Alexander Lukashenko on protesters who charge he rigged his re-election triumph last month.

Speaking with a virtual informal session of the U.N. Security Council, Tsikhanouskaya likewise advised the United Nations to send an international tracking objective to Belarus and said the U.N. Human Rights Commission should hold an unique session on the human rights situation there.

Tsikhanouskaya also got in touch with the global community to impose sanctions on the individuals accountable for electoral offenses “and crimes versus humankind.”

” We, the Belarusian individuals, need the assistance of the United Nations, in order to stop blatant human rights violations and cynical disregard for human self-respect,” Tsikhanouskaya stated, making her first call for international participation in the crisis.

” We ask the United Nations to condemn using extreme force by the Belarusian security services against protesters.”

The opposition leader spoke from the Lithuanian capital Vilnius, where she left after Lukashenko introduced his crackdown.

Representatives of Russia and China, both of which hold veto powers at the United Nations, informed the U.N. session they opposed outside intervention in the internal affairs of Belarus.

” Attempts to internationalize the circumstance in Belarus can only exacerbate things,” said Dmitry Polyanskiy, the deputy U.N. envoy of Russia, which sees Belarus as a crucial tactical buffer between itself and NATO.

Lukashenko, in power for 26 years, has dealt with a wave of opposition demonstrations given that his Aug. 9 election success. He has denied allegations by the opposition and Western nations that the vote was rigged and has withstood demands to step down.

Human rights professionals from the United Nations said this week they had received reports of hundreds of cases of abuse, poundings and mistreatment of Belarusian protesters by police.

The federal government has denied abusing detainees and has stated its security forces have actually acted properly versus demonstrators.

World News SANCTIONS

” We advise the United Nations to send the needed global authority objective to Belarus to document the situation on the ground,” said Tsikhanouskaya, including that the United Nations Special Rapporteur for Belarus should be enabled complimentary access to and movement in the nation.

Tsikhanouskaya, a political newbie, became the agreement opposition prospect in last month’s election after better-known figures, including her imprisoned activist hubby, were disallowed from standing.

Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia imposed travel bans on Lukashenko and 29 other Belarusian authorities last month, signifying impatience with the West’s mindful technique by revealing sanctions without awaiting the rest of the European Union.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stated on Wednesday the United States and European partners were together examining enforcing targeted sanctions on anybody associated with human rights abuses in Belarus.

A senior U.S. State Department authorities told Reuters today Washington was considering imposing sanctions on 7 Belarusians it believes were associated with falsifying the election results and in violence versus peaceful protesters.

The EU is still negotiating the precise list of individuals to be struck with travel bans and asset freezes when its foreign ministers satisfy on Sept. 21, diplomatic sources said.

Lukashenko has implicated foreign powers of being behind the protests, but has provided no evidence. The opposition has rejected that there is foreign involvement in the demonstrations and NATO has also denied his claims that it is massing forces near the Belarusian border.