Human rights cannot be used as pretext for meddling in internal affairs - Russian Foreign Ministry
MOSCOW. March 3 (Interfax) - Moscow is profoundly concerned about the situation, which has taken shape at the UN Human Rights Council over the year during which Russia was not represented in that body, including the attempts to use human rights issues as a pretext for meddling in internal affairs of other states, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
"The situation which developed at the UN Human Rights Council in our yearlong absence is a source of our concern," the ministry said ahead of the 25th session of the Council in which Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will participate.
"We are worried about the escalating confrontations and politicization, the depleting intergovernmental nature of the Council activities and the erosion of credibility of this important UN body," the ministry said.
Practically, the UN Human Rights Council is replicating the story of the former UN Commission on Human Rights, which was abolished in 2006.
The Russian Foreign Ministry indicated that the UN Human Rights Council was increasingly focused on monitoring.
"We do not see this work in general as a problem but the Council is doing it to the prejudice of other, no less important areas. The possibility to discuss human rights issues is considerably reducing and insufficient attention is being given to the fostering of human rights. This imbalance needs to be repaired. We will be working on that," the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Equal cooperation between states based on the respect for their sovereignty should be the fundamental principle of activities of the UN Human Rights Council and the entire human rights dimension of the United Nations, it emphasized.
In addition, Moscow thinks that the promotion and protection of human rights by the international community must strictly comply with international laws.
"Attempts to impose political or economic sanctions under human rights pretexts are absolutely unacceptable. We believe that these sanctions deteriorate the situation in the concerned state and encourage new violations of human rights," the ministry said.
The ministry said earlier that the UN Human Rights Council's session would last from March 3 to 28. The session will start with a meeting of senior officials (on March 3-5), which Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is due to address.
Lavrov will also meet with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and UN/LAS special envoy for Syria Lakhdar Brahimi in Geneva.