Eleven participants in UN Human Rights Council session, including Syria, condemn Russophobia

Geneva, SANA- 11 participants in the 51st Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council came up with a joint statement condemning discrimination against Russians and Russian speakers on Monday according to Russian TASS News Agency.

“We are deeply concerned with regard to the unprecedented scale and depth of discrimination unleashed by the authorities of a number of countries against Russians and Russian speaking people in recent months. Since the end of February of this year, Russians have been discriminated systematically on ethnic and linguistic grounds,” the statement reads.

The 11 nations stressed that discrimination against Russians and Russian speakers violated “the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the obligations of the States concerned under international human rights covenants, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, and other international treaties in the field of promotion and protection of human rights.”

“We call upon governments of these countries to immediately stop Russophobic hysteria and persecution of Russians and Russian speaking people and return to the responsible fulfillment of their human rights commitments in the anti-discrimination sphere,” the 11 countries added.

The statement, co-sponsored by Russia, Belarus, Bolivia, China, Ethiopia, Iran, Myanmar, Nicaragua, North Korea, Syria and Venezuela, was read out by Russian Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Office in Geneva Nikita Zhukov.
Hala Zain