The situation with human rights in Belarus is “catastrophic” and continues to deteriorate, the United Nations (UN) special rapporteur in that country said, La Libre Belgique newspaper reported, as quoted by Rador.​

According to the UN rapporteur, “the lack of accountability for human rights violations fuels the atmosphere of fear among the victims and their families.”

After five years in the post, Anais Marin reminded the UN Council that two years ago she had warned of Minsk’s “totalitarian turn”, as evidenced by its “disdain for life and human dignity” in its crackdown on peaceful demonstrations in 2020.

In her annual report, Anais Marin indicates that more than 1,500 people are still in political detention, with an average of 17 arbitrary arrests per day as of 2020.

“I have good reason to believe that the conditions of detention of those convicted for political reasons are deliberately aggravated by placing them in solitary confinement for minor violations of prison rules,” she said.

Human rights activists face ongoing harassment, she added, and more than 1,600 “undesirable organizations have been forcibly dissolved, including all remaining independent trade unions.”

“This indicates a purposeful state policy aimed at cleaning the civil space from the remnants of dissident elements,” she continued.

Ms Marin also claimed that all publications, websites and anything that stands for independent media have been branded “extremist organisations” and academic freedoms have been “systematically attacked”.

Primary and secondary education is also subject to “ideological control”, with children being “prevented from expressing their own opinions” and subjected to “threats and consequences” for dissent.

Belarus immediately offered the floor at the Human Rights Council for a response, but no representative was present.