West continues to politicize human rights issues amid pandemic, says Gatilov

Western countries continue to politicize human rights issues amid the coronavirus pandemic in order to put pressure on unwanted regimes, Russian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office and other International Organizations in Geneva Gennady Gatilov told an online briefing on Thursday.

 

According to him, the pandemic has highlighted serious issues in the human rights field. “The virus of politicization is unfortunately still affecting international efforts to protect human rights. Western countries continue attempts to use human rights as a tool to advance their political agenda,” Gatilov pointed out.

 

The senior Russian diplomat noted that the position of all countries needed to be taken into consideration in order to make sure that the United Nations system can effectively promote human rights. “Unfortunately, we don’t see such an approach to the activities of the United Nations’ human rights bodies, but on the contrary, we can see attempts to take advantage of human rights issues to put pressure on the so-called unwanted regimes,” Gatilov said.

 

He added that Russia would seek election to the UN Human Rights Council in order to promote its priorities. “We are certainly prepared for reasonable changes approved by a broad consensus but we will take a cautious stance on the matter, taking into account the opinion of all members states,” the Russian envoy emphasized.

 

Source: TASS