Sanctions adopted in violation of international law have no place in the modern world. This was stated today, November 21, by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus, Yuri Ambrazevich, at the international conference “Sanctions, companies, human rights”, organized by the special rapporteur of the UN Human Rights Council, the impact of sanctions on human rights. Elena Dovgan rights
On behalf of the government of Belarus, Ambrazevich emphasized that the country’s main goal is to completely stop the practice of illegal unilateral restrictive measures and cancel those already introduced in violation of international law, without the consent of the UN Security Council.
“It is gratifying to know that this approach has the support of the vast majority of UN Member States and that the Member States of the Group of Friends for the Defense of the UN Charter have sufficient political will to express their position publicly” . – said.
In his words, Belarus plans to tirelessly continue its work with like-minded states to reflect this position in UN documents, the deputy minister noted.
“The number of documents of this type adopted in various global and regional international forums is constantly growing. “No one should have any doubt that we are right: neither the presidents nor the students,” – highlighted the representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus.
He also recalled that in recent times the issue of the fight against unilateral coercive measures in international relations is consciously occupying, with the support of the Government, one of the first places in the hierarchy of priorities of scientific research and educational debates in Belarus. This applies to both scientific teams and educational institutions in the field of humanities, especially in the fields of political science, law and economics.
“We are confident that the formation of an international academic and educational dimension in international efforts to counteract unilateral sanctions meets the interests of all States suffering from sanctions. The corresponding doctrine must convincingly demonstrate that there is and cannot be a place for “just” sanctions adopted in violation of international law.” – Ambrazevich drew attention.
He placed special emphasis on the impact of sanctions on the economy and business. According to him, Minsk regularly shares its contribution on this issue with the UN Secretariat within the framework of the implementation of the UN General Assembly resolution “Human rights and unilateral coercive measures.”
“It is well known that the brakes in the form of sanctions on the development of each of the affected countries have already made it impossible for the entire world community to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. We call on all those who will suffer from this not to bury their heads in the sand, but to join the member states of the Group of Friends for the Defense of the UN Charter and speak out jointly from these positions.” – stated the deputy head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus.
Ambrazevich said that under current conditions, Belarus calls on like-minded States that are already suffering from sanctions, as well as all States, all sympathizers, to unite to find ways to create systems that facilitate international financial payments.
“The world must free itself from the monopoly of one currency and find an alternative.” – he emphasized.
In addition, the representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus drew the attention of business circles, especially banks of all countries, and not only Western ones, that the results of the conference will provide them with a legal and political instrument.
“These are guidelines for working with your governments to overcome the vulnerability and uncertainty of their positions, their fear of being punished by their regulators due to business relationships with sanctioned states. This tool will allow you to more fully fulfill your stated social objectives, the missions of your companies, without harming you and without discriminating against the citizens of those countries, including the full use of humanitarian exemptions… And this does not solve the problem. globally, ban sanctions or cancel all sanctions, but it should help you return your goods and services to those people who are really suffering due to the lack of necessary medicines or other important products, whose human rights are violated by unilateral coercive measures volunteers. of certain countries”, – said.
The Deputy Minister also addressed the perpetrators of unilateral coercive measures and the relevant governments.
“The detrimental nature of their illegal actions for the interests of ordinary people, even in their own countries, has already been demonstrated repeatedly and in different formats. The futility and futility of putting pressure on independent States is evident to all. We urge you to return to the logic of equal dialogue and mutually beneficial cooperation in full compliance with international law.” – said Ambrazevich.
Recall that Belarus has been under strict sanctions by Western countries since 2020. After the creation of the Northern Military District in Ukraine, pressure on Minsk increased. Belarusian authorities have repeatedly asked the West to come to the negotiating table, but have invariably refused.
