The General Committee on Democracy, Human Rights and Humanitarian Questions of the OSCE PA approved the draft resolution that criticizes the situation with human rights and freedoms in Azerbaijan, Russia and Belarus, the Belarusian media reported.

The draft resolution on the situation in Eastern Europe expresses concern about the deterioration of democracy development, the continuing and increasing violations of human rights, as well as the plight of political opposition, civil society, journalists and other defenders of freedom in Russia, Belarus and Azerbaijan.

Representing the resolution, its author, Swedish deputy Christian Holm Barenfeld noted that the document expressed concern about the deteriorating democratic situation in Azerbaijan, Belarus and Russia.

This resolution was criticized by the representatives of Azerbaijan, Russia and Switzerland. The representative of Switzerland criticized the document, calling for an unbiased analysis covering the entire Eastern Europe as a whole, “not focusing on two selected states plus the Russian Federation”. She was also supported by the representative of Azerbaijan, who stated that he completely shared the views of his Swiss colleague, adding that “Eastern Europe is not only composed of three countries”.

Christian Holm Barenfeld for his part said that while drafting the resolution it was not “about the coverage of the whole world.”

It's not about double standards, it's about the problems with democracy in these three countries, where human rights are constantly being violated, he added.