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USA welcomes comments about its human rights record, embassy says

The United States welcomes comments about its human rights record, a spokesperson for the US embassy in Minsk told BelaPAN on Wednesday, commenting on the Belarusian foreign ministry’s report about human rights violations around the world.

“The United States is always open to a human rights dialogue with Belarus,” the spokesperson said. “We’re ready to discuss the human rights situation in our country as well as Washington’s conclusions about the situation in Belarus detailed in US State Department’s report.”

In its report, titled, “The Most High-profile Instances of Human Rights Abuse in Certain Countries of the World in 2013,” the Belarusian foreign ministry accuses US authorities of violating the principle of the secrecy of correspondence. The report cites the prosecution of US fugitive ex-CIA analyst Edward Snowden, who fled the United States in June 2013 after leaking details of top-secret US and UK government mass surveillance programs to the media.

The foreign ministry alleges that the right to search for, obtain and disseminate information and ideas is violated in the United States and so is the right to life and freedom from torture. The report notes that the US military carries out extrajudicial killings without giving proper explanations and reporting civilian casualties.

The ministry also criticizes the United States for allegedly violating the right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly and subjecting people to arbitrary arrest and detention.