Rybakov: UN is platform that we actively use to make Belarus’ voice heard
Participation in the United Nations is a great opportunity to convey our country’s position on priority issues – as stated by Valentin Rybakov, the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Belarus to the United Nations, during his report to President of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko
According to Valentin Rybakov, despite the great importance of Belarus’ participation in various integration structures and international platforms, the UN is the only universal international organisation where all states of the world are represented.
“For us, of course, this is a huge opportunity, which we actively use to convey our position so that the voice of Belarus can be heard on all issues that are primarily of priority interest to us,” he underlined.
Co-operation with the United Nations is the most important vector of Belarus’ foreign policy. Belarus has become one of the founding countries of the United Nations, taking an active position in it since the first days of its membership. During the period of independence, we’ve introduced a range of important initiatives to the UN, which strengthened the country’s positive image in the international arena.
The most famous initiative was the formation of a partnership to combat trafficking in persons, launched by President of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko at the 2005 summit. The practical implementation of this idea was the adoption (unanimously) in 2010 by the UN General Assembly on our initiative of the UN Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons, which consolidated the image of Belarus as an international leader in this field.
At the 2005 UN summit, the Head of State put forward another initiative, which was reflected in many documents of the UN General Assembly and the Non-Aligned Movement – recognition of the diversity of ways of progressive development. This continues to be relevant in the current geopolitical conditions. Since 2006, Belarus has been promoting the UN General Assembly resolution to improve the co-ordination of efforts against trafficking in persons.
Minsk is also promoting a resolution on the prohibition of new types of weapons of mass destruction. In September 2019, speaking at the UN international conference on combating terrorism using ICT, the Head of State proposed to create a Digital Neighbourhood Belt. Moreover, at the initiative of Belarus, the following resolutions have been adopted by consensus: The Role of Professional Translation in Connecting Nations and Fostering Peace, Understanding and Development (2017), the International Association of Permanent Representatives to the United Nations (2018), and the International Delegate’s Day (2019).
The initiative of the Head of State on the need to start a broad international dialogue to restore trust and strengthen security in the spirit of San Francisco, which he addressed to the heads of state and government in May 2022, is also being promoted.
Belarus actively opposes unilateral coercive measures at the UN rostrum.
