Belarus sends letter to UNGA complaining of economic, political pressure

"The Republic of Belarus has been faithfully implementing its 2030 Agenda international obligations. Belarus has put in place a national architecture to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. It involves representatives of civil society, government bodies, the parliamentary community and business circles, Anatoly Isachenko said. “The joint efforts of society and the state to achieve the SDGs have generated significant progress. In the human development index, our country ranks 53rd in the group of countries with a very high level of human development; in the independent ranking of SDGs achievements, Belarus ranks 24th out of 165 states."

Over its centuries-old history, at the cost of the heroic feat of the previous generations, having lost every third citizen in the Great Patriotic War, Belarus defended its right to independently determine its path of development.

"Being one of the founding members of the United Nations, Belarus remains committed to the key principles of international law - non-interference in the internal affairs of states and their equality in the international arena. However, today, due to the targeted campaign launched by the EU and the United States to exert political and economic pressure on the Republic of Belarus, the high results achieved in various fields, including towards the SDGs, have become at risk," the vice speaker said.

Anatoly Isachenko called this campaign a brazen and daring challenge to a sovereign, democratic and peace-loving state, to each of its citizens. "Unilateral restrictive measures in the form of blocking access for Belarusian goods to the European market, air embargo, escalating  migration crisis on the Belarusian-Lithuanian border are acquiring catastrophic proportions.

The entire world has witnessed unprecedented external pressure, the politicization of the Sustainable Development Goals, and the unleashing of a global crisis in the heart of Europe. These and other actions contradict a number of international obligations, run counter to the United Nations Charter, and significantly impair the right to a decent standard of living for millions of people.

“Interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign state violates the Declaration on Principles of International Law concerning Friendly Relations and Cooperation among states in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, adopted by UN General Assembly resolution 2625 (XXV) of 24 October 1970. The principle of not interfering in matters within the domestic jurisdiction of any state says: “No state may use or encourage the use of economic, political or any other type of measures to coerce another State in order to obtain from it the subordination of the exercise of its sovereign rights or to secure from it advantages of any kind. No state shall organize, assist, foment, finance, incite or tolerate subversive, terrorist or armed activities directed towards the violent overthrow of the system of another state, or contribute to it, or interfere in internal struggles in another state.” The declaration also reads “States must cooperate to promote economic growth throughout the world, especially in developing countries”, the deputy speaker emphasized.

Anatoly Isachenko added: “As the National Coordinator for the Sustainable Development Goals in the Republic of Belarus, I appeal to the UN General Assembly and urge to condemn gross interference in the internal affairs of the Republic of Belarus by foreign states. I ask to take measures to prevent the use of unilateral coercive restrictive measures against a sovereign state. I also urge you to stop the planned steps by several UN member states to ignore the key principles of international law and the deterioration of the living standards of millions of people. I also ask you to stand up for the 2030 Agenda, which is currently being consistently ignored by the United States and EU countries, which have undertaken high commitments under it.”