Tuesday, 01 June 2021
A University of Nottingham academic has been appointed by UN High Commissioner, Michelle Bachelet, to the UN Human Rights Office’s fact-finding mission on Belarus.
Professor Marko Milanović is a leading expert in international human rights law, public international law and international criminal law in the university’ School of Law and Human Rights Law Centre.
Professor Milanović is one of three experts who will assist the UN High Commissioner in conducting a comprehensive examination of alleged human rights violations committed in Belarus since 1 May 2020 to the present day, including the possible gender dimension of such violations.
The past year has seen the longstanding and chronic pattern of systemic violations in Belarus brought into sharp relief, intensifying in the context of the presidential election and beyond, with fundamental freedoms routinely denied. The work of the fact-finding mission will play an important part in ensuring the accountability for the violations that have fuelled the crisis.
Professor Marko Milanovic is one of
three experts appointed to the mission
The mission comes as the UN Human Rights Council condemned the ongoing grave violations of human rights in Belarus in connection with the 2020 presidential election.
In the August 2020 presidential elections in Belarus, the incumbent, Alexander Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus since 1994, again claimed victory in a result that has been disputed as fraudulent both within and outside Belarus. Hundreds of thousands of Belarusians turned out to protest.
In March 2021, the UN Human Rights Council determined that after the elections, Belarusian authorities committed grave and systematic violations of human rights, including the arbitrary arrests and detention of opposition members, journalists and media workers, human rights defenders and citizens in general for exercising their rights and freedoms.
On 24 March 2021, it requested the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to monitor and report on the situation of human rights in the country, and to collect, consolidate, preserve and analyse information and evidence with a view to contributing to accountability for perpetrators and justice for victims and, where possible, to identify those responsible.
The High Commissioner will present an interim oral update to the Human Rights Council at its forty-eighth session in September 2021, and a comprehensive written report at its forty-ninth session in March 2022.
Notes to editors:
About the University of Nottingham
Ranked 32 in Europe and 16th in the UK by the QS World University Rankings: Europe 2024, the University of Nottingham is a founding member of the Russell Group of research-intensive universities. Studying at the University of Nottingham is a life-changing experience, and we pride ourselves on unlocking the potential of our students. We have a pioneering spirit, expressed in the vision of our founder Sir Jesse Boot, which has seen us lead the way in establishing campuses in China and Malaysia - part of a globally connected network of education, research and industrial engagement.
Nottingham was crowned Sports University of the Year by The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024 – the third time it has been given the honour since 2018 – and by the Daily Mail University Guide 2024.
The university is among the best universities in the UK for the strength of our research, positioned seventh for research power in the UK according to REF 2021. The birthplace of discoveries such as MRI and ibuprofen, our innovations transform lives and tackle global problems such as sustainable food supplies, ending modern slavery, developing greener transport, and reducing reliance on fossil fuels.
The university is a major employer and industry partner - locally and globally - and our graduates are the second most targeted by the UK's top employers, according to The Graduate Market in 2022 report by High Fliers Research.
We lead the Universities for Nottingham initiative, in partnership with Nottingham Trent University, a pioneering collaboration between the city’s two world-class institutions to improve levels of prosperity, opportunity, sustainability, health and wellbeing for residents in the city and region we are proud to call home.
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