A/HRC/RES/52/29 electors, in accordance with the State’s obligations under article 25 (b) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; 7. Condemns the actions of Belarusian authorities in committing an act of unlawful interference that deliberately endangered the safety and security of a civilian flight in Belarusian airspace in May 2021 and the lives of all those on board, and welcomes the determination of the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization that the said actions were a flagrant and serious violation of the Convention on International Civil Aviation, as further confirmed by the Organization in its Assembly resolution A41-1; 8. Strongly urges the Belarusian authorities to fully respect, protect and fulfil all their international human rights obligations, including those under the International Covenants on Human Rights, the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Convention on the Rights of the Child; 9. Urges in this respect the Belarusian authorities to cease the excessive use of force against peaceful demonstrators, of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and to stop carrying out arbitrary arrests, detentions and imprisonment, as well as immediately cease the arbitrary criminal or administrative prosecution, trials that lack respect for minimum fair trial guarantees, including the right to a fair trial, the harassment, intimidation and repression of persons, including women and children, for exercising their human rights and fundamental freedoms, and other forms of ongoing abuses and violations, and urges the Belarusian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release all political prisoners, and those arbitrarily detained, charged or sentenced on politically motivated grounds; 10. Calls upon the Belarusian authorities to allow adequate medical assistance and proper treatment for all detained persons who are in urgent need of medical attention and those with severe health conditions, and to ensure the access of all detainees to lawyers, food parcels, visits by family members, information on medical procedures and information about their “criminal” cases, and also that information about the status of detainees to their family members is safeguarded during a medical emergency, and also calls upon the Belarusian authorities to release for humanitarian reasons those subjected to politically motivated criminal prosecution since 2020, including children, older persons, persons who need urgent release owing to a severe health condition and persons who should otherwise be released in the best interests of their family members; 11. Calls upon the Belarusian authorities to ensure free, fair and inclusive elections, to enter into a genuine national dialogue with the political opposition and civil society, and to guarantee the independence of the judiciary and of the legal profession in order to restore and maintain the rule of law, democracy and compliance with human rights law, and to that end to engage meaningfully with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe; 12. Recognizes the important role played by journalists and other media workers, lawyers and civil society, including human rights defenders, in particular women human rights defenders, in continuing to carry out essential human rights work, including by documenting and monitoring, in challenging circumstances, allegations of human rights violations and abuses in the lead-up to, during and since the 2020 presidential election, and encourages all efforts, including by Belarusian and international civil society groups, to document human rights violations in Belarus and acts of harassment and intimidation against Belarusian exiles fleeing repression, including gender-based violence and harassment, both online and offline; 13. Stresses the need for accountability for human rights violations and abuses, which is critical for the prevention of further violations and abuses and for the recognition of victims, and urges the Belarusian authorities to ensure prompt, effective, independent, transparent and impartial investigations into all reported human rights violations and abuses committed in the lead-up to, during and since the 2020 presidential election, including cases involving deaths, arbitrary detention, torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment of detainees and protesters and of enforced disappearance and forced 3