The United Nations special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Belarus, Miklos Haraszti, has warned that the situation of human rights in the country has further deteriorated since last year.

Speaking during the presentation of his latest report to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on June 24, Haraszti said that the "systematic violation of human rights, in particular civil and political rights, continues."

"Not only the freedoms of expression, association, and assembly were further restricted during the last year," the special rapporteur said.

Haraszti said labor rights continue to be denied, and independent labor unions are suppressed.

He also urged Belarus's authorities to release and to "fully rehabilitate all political opponents who had been imprisoned."

In his report, Haraszti describes how the situation in Belarus for the past two decades has been characterized by a systemic denial of human rights to citizens.