A/HRC/RES/49/26 2. Expresses deep concern at the further deterioration of the situation of human rights in Belarus in the aftermath of the presidential election held on 9 August 2020 and the continued impunity and lack of accountability for human rights violations committed in Belarus since 1 May 2020; 3. Condemns in this respect the continuing systematic denial of human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the arbitrary detention and arrest of an unprecedented scale of opposition members, journalists and other media workers, human rights defenders, lawyers, medical workers, cultural workers, teachers, students, children, persons belonging to national minorities, members of trade unions and strike committees, and other members of civil society and individuals for expressing dissenting opinions and exercising their human rights and fundamental freedoms, including those peacefully expressing protest or speaking out against the armed conflict in Ukraine stemming from the aggression by the Russian Federation and against the constitutional referendum held in Belarus on 27 February 2022, and also condemns the prison sentences handed down to political prisoners without any guarantee of their right to a fair trial; 4. Expresses continued grave concern at reports of systematic and widespread acts of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment of, and sexual and gender-based violence against, individuals detained and arrested in Belarus, including children, with the knowledge of the Belarusian State authorities, and the reported inhumane detention conditions and denial of access to medical and legal assistance in detention centres and prisons, which urgently require an independent investigation, and regrets that, despite being a State party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Belarus has, according to reports, not complied with its obligations under those treaties; 5. Expresses continued serious concern about other ongoing severe politically motivated acts of repression against independent media and civil society, including through the large-scale ordered closure of civil society organizations, arbitrary decisions to cancel professional licences, including of lawyers, the revocation of foreign media workers’ accreditations, the blocking of independent media websites and Internet shutdowns, the reported numerous raids on private houses and offices, and the increasing legislative restrictions of the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly, association and expression, both online and offline, in particular the amendments to the Law on Mass Gatherings, the Law on Mass Media, the Law on Countering Extremism and the Law on the Bar and Advocacy, adopted in May 2021, and the amendments to the Criminal Code adopted in December 2021; 6. Expresses once again its regret that the Government of Belarus has not fulfilled its obligations with regard to the right of every citizen to vote and to be elected at free, fair and inclusive periodic elections, which should be by universal and equal suffrage and should be held by secret ballot, guaranteeing the free expression of the will of the electors, in accordance with the State’s obligations under article 25 (b) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and also regrets the failure of Belarus to implement previous recommendations of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe on holding free, fair and inclusive elections that meet international standards, and its non-cooperation in issuing a timely invitation, which precluded the deployment of a mission by that Office to observe the 2020 presidential election or the constitutional referendum held on 27 February 2022 under a legal framework that did not take into account the said recommendations; 7. Notes with deep concern that, according to the report released by the International Civil Aviation Organization on 17 January 2022 on the incident involving a civilian flight in the Belarus airspace, the Belarusian authorities have failed to produce evidence of threat that was used to justify the diversion and landing of the flight in Minsk in May 2021; 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 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 2