{"id":520611,"date":"2026-02-25T08:06:31","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T05:06:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reform.news\/?p=520611"},"modified":"2026-02-25T11:55:52","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T08:55:52","slug":"sakreta-boasts-at-un-human-rights-council-about-delayed-utility-tariff-increase","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/sakreta-boasts-at-un-human-rights-council-about-delayed-utility-tariff-increase","title":{"rendered":"Sakreta Boasts at UN Human Rights Council About Delayed Utility Tariff Increase"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Deputy Foreign Minister Ihar <\/b>Sakreta<\/strong>, speaking at a session of the UN Human Rights Council, called the body\u2019s work a failure, accused it of bias, and boasted that Belarus had postponed an increase in housing and utility tariffs because of a cold January.<\/p>\n

Sakreta\u2019s accusations against the Council followed familiar lines. He said the body treats a number of countries in a biased manner and that its activities are used to justify sanctions.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday\u2019s statements prove that the work of the Human Rights Council is increasingly becoming a failure, turning into a farce. More and more states are voicing claims against it. Only those who seek to impose through it their own recipe for \u2018democracy\u2019 are satisfied \u2014 a recipe that in reality brings chaos and unconstitutional disorder to other sovereign countries. The resolutions adopted in this hall are, unfortunately, not about human rights at all. They serve entirely different purposes \u2014 justifying sanctions, external pressure, the lynching of \u2018inconvenient states,\u2019 and dividing the world into \u2018bad\u2019 and \u2018good,\u2019\u201d<\/i> he said.<\/p>\n

Sakreta also claimed that UN experts had assumed the role of quasi-judicial bodies.<\/p>\n

\u201cSpecial rapporteurs and so-called \u2018independent experts\u2019 have appropriated the role of quasi-investigative and quasi-judicial bodies, directly interfering in the internal affairs of sovereign states. The question is: on what basis? Why are some countries scrutinised under a magnifying glass, while others end up in the Council\u2019s \u2018blind spot\u2019? There are no ideal countries, as the results of the universal periodic review show. Everyone must be subject to the same rules,\u201d<\/i> he said.<\/p>\n

As examples, he cited the fact that Latvia has not been compelled to abolish the institution of non-citizenship, while Lithuania and Poland, in his words, treat migrants in an inhumane manner \u2014 yet these issues are not discussed by the Council. Sakreta then turned to what he described as the achievements of the Belarusian authorities in protecting what they consider \u201ctrue\u201d human rights.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year provides a very telling example. While residents of supposedly \u2018well-fed\u2019 Europe are forced to save on heating and still pay draconian, enormous electricity bills because of this year\u2019s cold winter, Belarus, despite unprecedented illegal sanctions pressure, acting in the interests of its citizens, is refusing to implement a planned increase in housing and utility tariffs during the cold period. The state deliberately takes on the financial burden to protect families, pensioners, ordinary people \u2014 the so-called vulnerable categories of citizens.<\/i><\/p>\n

While Europe is paying for political miscalculations with rising prices and declining living standards, our priority remains unchanged: stability, social protection, and support for citizens. And this clearly demonstrates the difference in approaches and the difference in values that are spoken about so much in this hall these days,\u201d<\/i> he said.<\/p>\n

It should be noted that utility tariffs in Belarus are nevertheless set to increase from March 1.<\/p>\n

\u201cModern Belarus is a stable state, firmly following the path of sustainable development. We proceed from a simple principle: human rights begin with the right to live with dignity \u2014 I stress, with dignity \u2014 with the right to live under a peaceful sky, to receive quality education, to have decent pay, to obtain highly qualified medical care and social support, and, most importantly, to be confident in tomorrow for oneself and one\u2019s children. This year has been declared the Year of Women in Belarus, which will help strengthen the role of women in the sustainable development of society,\u201d<\/i> he said.<\/p>\n

Sakreta also stated that Belarusians today are more united than ever and that the country\u2019s experience shows that no sanctions can stop it.<\/p>\n

On the eve of the Human Rights Council session, human rights organisations called for the extension and strengthening of the mandates of the Special Rapporteur and the Group of Independent Experts on the human rights situation in Belarus. Rights defenders noted that there are more than 1,100 political prisoners in the country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Deputy Foreign Minister Ihar Sakreta, speaking at a session of the UN Human Rights Council, called the body\u2019s work a failure, accused it of bias, and boasted that Belarus had postponed an increase in housing and utility tariffs because of a cold January. Sakreta\u2019s accusations against the Council followed familiar lines. He said the body […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":119,"featured_media":520610,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sharing_image":{"poster":"https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/699eb91d1d6e5.jpg","width":1200,"height":630,"template":"691142dd","mode":"auto"},"_sharing_image_fieldset":{"dTVKfmI95PYT":"Sakreta Boasts at UN Human Rights Council About Delayed Utility Tariff Increase"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[142338],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-520611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"wps_subtitle":"","permalink_manager":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/119"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=520611"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520611\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/520610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=520611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=520611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=520611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}