Belarusian athlete Valentina Shyts addresses UN conference

Discrimination of Belarusian athletes with disabilities, which contradicts the provisions of the Paralympic Charter must be stopped and justice must prevail. This was the message delivered by Valentina Shyts, skier and biathlete of the Belarusian National Paralympic Team, at the 15th session of the Conference of the States Parties to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Belarusian team was suspended for political reasons after it had already arrived in Beijing to participate in the Paralympics. And since then, the international competitions for Belarusians and Russians became inaccessible.

The International Paralympic Committee explained its blatant discriminatory decisions by its concern for the safety of our athletes, although neither in Beijing, nor anywhere else, our delegation faced pressure from colleagues from other countries. While sport interferes with politics, Belarusian and Russian Paralympians hold joint competitions. The nearest ones are scheduled for Brest in July.