Belarus and its allies have repeatedly tried to muzzle speakers at the UN amid warnings of a new iron curtain falling across Europe during an ill-tempered debate on alleged human rights violations.

The body’s 47-member human rights council voted by 23 votes to two with 22 abstentions to adopt a resolution condemning rights violations in Belarus and requesting the UN high commissioner on Human Rights to take up the issue and report back to the council.

Anaïs Marin, the UN’s special rapporteur on Belarus, described the human rights situation in Belarus as “catastrophic” and warned: “Let’s not allow another iron curtain to descend on the European continent.”.

Germany called the urgent all-day talks on behalf of the EU, which has tabled a draft resolution to demand the high commissioner for human rights, Michelle Bachelet, monitor the crisis and report back by the end of the year, after what the bloc has called “fraudulent elections” officially won by Lukashenko.

The situation in Belarus “demands immediate international attention”, she said in the video message, adding that the country’s violation of its international obligations to respect “human dignity and basic human rights ...

It called on the Belarus authorities to stop using excessive force against peaceful demonstrators, halt arbitrary arrests on political grounds and release all political prisoners, journalists and others detained for protesting.

He and his counterparts from Russia, Venezuela and China also voiced multiple objections to statements by the UN deputy high commissioner for human rights, Nada al-Nashif, and by Marin, saying they had no place in the debate