On Friday 22 January, on the initiative of Estonia, the UN Security Council holds an informal high-level virtual meeting to discuss media freedom in Belarus.
The keynote speaker is Irene Khan, the United Nations Special Rapporteur for freedom of expression and opinion. Opening remarks are made by Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the leader of democratic Belarus. Other speakers include Member of the Coordination Council Presidium and Head of National Anti-Crisis Management Pavel Latushko, international journalist Gareth Browne and a representative of an independent Belarusian media outlet.
Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu will chair the meeting.
“Violence and repressions against journalists in Belarus must end immediately. We must fight impunity. All individuals imprisoned for political motives, including journalists, media staff and bloggers, must be released unconditionally. Those responsible for attacks on representatives of independent media must be held to account,” Foreign Minister Reinsalu said.
Estonia’s Permanent Representative to the UN Sven Jürgenson emphasised that advancing and protecting human rights was an important principle and goal of Estonia as well as the UN. “As a UN Security Council member, Estonia considers human rights indispensable to international peace and security – we cannot remain silent if we see that they are being violated.”
The meeting builds on a previous high-level Arria-formula meeting organised by Estonia on 4 September 2020, which focused on human rights in Belarus. The suppression of peaceful demonstrations following the fraudulent presidential elections on 9 August has painted a grim picture of the state of media freedom in Belarus.
The event is co-organised with UN Security Council members France, Ireland, Norway, the United Kingdom and the United States, as well as other UN member states Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine.
The event is streamed live via the Foreign Ministry’s YouTube and Facebook channels on Friday 22 January at 16.00 (Estonian time).
Read more on the event page.
Technical support for the event is provided by the Estonian company Global Virtual Solutions.
Additional information:
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Estonia
Communication Department
[email protected]