OREANDA-NEWS. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights is concerned about the situation around the protests in Belarus and calls on Minsk to ensure full respect for freedom of speech and peaceful assembly.

This was announced on August 11 by the official representative of the agency, Elizabeth Throssell. According to her, the UN is monitoring the development of the situation and is deeply concerned about the death of one of the protesters and the detention of several thousand people. Throssell stressed that the authorities must ensure that freedom of speech, peaceful assembly and association are fully respected, and any use of force by law enforcement agencies must comply with the principles of necessity and proportionality.

The United Nations is also concerned about reports of the use of rubber bullets, stun grenades and water cannons by security forces during the dispersal of peaceful demonstrators. Throssell added that restrictions on Internet access, which last for three days, have resulted in unjustified limitation on access to information and media freedom.