60^th Session of the UN Human Rights Council

Interactive dialogue with Group of Independent Experts on Belarus

Statement on behalf of the Nordic-Baltic States –

Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden

delivered by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania

H. E. Kęstutis Budrys

19 September 2025

Thank you, Mr. President.

I deliver this statement on behalf of the Nordic-Baltic States.

We remain deeply troubled by the deteriorating human rights situation in Belarus – the systematic eradication of civil society, politically motivated sentences leading to degrading conditions of detention and the systematic use of torture, including sexual and gender-based violence.

Legislative changes aim to eliminate any potential dissent and enable misuse of the justice system for political purposes. Hundreds of NGOs are closed, as arbitrary arrests and persecutions of journalists, human rights defenders, and activists continue. With over a thousand political prisoners in Belarus, the cycle of releases and arrests persists. Only sustained international pressure – non-recognition, isolation and sanctions – can break this.

We condemn these authoritarian practices, some of which may amount to crimes against humanity, and demand the immediate and unconditional release and effective rehabilitation of all political prisoners.

We urge Belarus to cease immediately the instrumentalization of migrants for political purposes pushing them into the EU.

Identification and prosecution of perpetrators of these crimes, human rights violations and abuses is essential to ending Belarus’s impunity.

We repeatedly call on Belarus to cease its involvement in Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and its complicity in the unlawful deportation of Ukrainian children.

Thank you.