Human rights activists met with the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Belarus

Representatives of the leading Belarusian human rights organizations met with the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Belarus Miklos Haraszti. The event was held on February 2-3 in Vilnius as the Belarusian authorities do not recognize the mandate of the UN Special Rapporteur and don't let him visit Belarus.

This year, the Republic of Belarus must pass another procedure under the Universal Periodic Review (UPR). The second stage of the UPR is scheduled for May 2015. Belarus must submit the results of the previous recommendations on the situation of human rights that it has taken during the first phase. On the eve of the review, Belarusian NGOs have sent their alternative report to the office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

According to Deputy Chairman of the Human Rights Center "Viasna" Valiantsin Stefanovich, the topics of the discussion included the situation with socio-political rights in the country and other issues related to human rights in Belarus. Human rights activists have expressed concern about the lack of real progress on key problem areas of human rights in the country over the past 5 years.

It is worth mentioning that in June the extension of the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on human rights in Belarus will be voted at the United Nations Human Rights Council.

Universalny Periodic Review (UPR), currently passed by Belarus is a relatively new (2006) Mechanism of the Human Rights Council, which assesses the extent to which each of the 192 UN member states fulfills its international human rights obligations. UPR is designed to improve the human rights situation "on the ground", to promote the implementation of the obligations of the state of human rights and strengthen the capacity of the state in the protection of human rights. The human rights situation in each country is reviewed once every five years.