Mr. President,

I have the honour to deliver this statement on behalf of Belgium, Luxembourg, and my own country the Kingdom of the Netherlands. We align ourselves with the EU statement.

We thank the Group of Independent Experts for their comprehensive and thorough report. 
Its conclusions are stark: since 2020, the Belarusian authorities have pursued a deliberate and coordinated campaign of repression. Peaceful citizens, human rights defenders, and democratic voices have faced arbitrary detention, torture, and systematic persecution. 
We are appalled by the persistent use of torture, arbitrary detention, and sham trials, targeting civil society, independent voices, and ordinary Belarusians exercising their fundamental rights. 

Instead of upholding justice, the authorities have turned Belarus’s institutions into instruments of oppression, including the persistent and growing practice of transnational repression. 
Victims are silenced, lawyers are harassed, while perpetrators are shielded from any type of accountability. Impunity has become entrenched.
Even if prisoners were released, many more remain unjustly imprisoned, we reiterate our call for genuine accountability and for the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners and their effective rehabilitation and urge the Belarusian authorities to end their campaign of repression. As such, we especially welcome the Group’s mapping of avenues for justice.
Independent Experts, 
Could you elaborate on how the international community can most effectively support Belarusian victims’ right to truth, justice, and reparation?

Thank you.