Lukashenko and Karimov want human rights voices muffled

Belarus and Uzbekistan on 7 November called on the UN to stop passing resolutions which condemn human rights abuse in particular countries, the UN news centre reports.

Minsk and Tashkent consider that such UN resolutions are only appropriate in cases of genocide, ethnic cleansing or crimes against humanity being perpetrated in the given country.

In all other cases, the authors of the proposal claim, such resolutions are of a “biased and politically motivated nature”.

It should be remembered that the Belarusian and Uzbekistan regimes are notorious for their human rights violations, although indeed in neither country is one talking of genocide or ethnic cleansing. However the crushing of the peaceful protests against the presidential elections in Belarus in 2006 and the shooting by Uzbek military forces of peaceful demonstrators in Adijon in 2005 evoked waves of outrage throughout the world.