The United Nations General Assembly should reject Belarus’ bid for a seat on the Human Rights Council because of its appalling rights record and consistent failure to cooperate with the UN, Human Rights Watch said today. Elections to the council will be held on May 17, 2007.

Belarus’ record on human rights makes the country a supremely unfit candidate for the United Nations Human Rights Council, a coalition of more than 40 national and international human rights groups said today.

The Belarusian authorities should immediately reverse a decision to evict the Belarusian Helsinki Committee (BHC) from its office and instead extend its lease for another year, Human Rights Watch said today. The government has arbitrarily cancelled the organization’s lease, interfering with its work and trying to force its closure. The committee’s head is expected to make a fresh plea for a lease extension in a meeting with the Presidential Administration today.

The authorities in Belarus should immediately halt their attempts to close down the last remaining human rights organization registered in the country, Human Rights Watch said today.

The new U.N. Human Rights Council must take urgent action to address crises from Darfur to Sri Lanka and expand its focus beyond the Middle East.

The government of Belarus should stop detaining demonstrators peacefully protesting the results of Sunday’s election, and uphold their right to do so, Human Rights Watch said today.

Human Rights Watch, Oxfam International and Amnesty International call on a small number of “spoiler” countries to stop holding the UN World Summit hostage over crucial measures on human rights, security, genocide and poverty reduction. These governments have thrown negotiations on the final outcome text into crisis just days away from the biggest meeting of world leaders in history, September 14-16 in New York.

With a membership that includes governments responsible for crimes against humanity, the U.N. Commission on Human Rights meeting in Geneva next week must take dramatic steps to restore its sinking credibility.