2 Aug 2013 | Campaigns
Index joins the International Day of Solidarity with Civil Society of Belarus to be held on 4 August, on the second anniversary of the arrest of a well-known Belarusian human rights defender Ales Bialiatski.
Mike Harris, Head of Advocacy at Index, said:
“Today we send our solidarity and support to Belarusian independent journalists and civil society activists, who continue their courageous work to defend human rights in Belarus. The government of Belarus must immediately and unconditionally release all of its political prisoners. Before the EU engages with Belarus, all political prisoners need to be released and concrete steps taken to remove restrictions that curtail freedom of expression.”
The International Day of Solidarity with Civil Society of Belarus is a joint initiative of NGOs from different countries. It is created as a demonstration of solidarity with civil society of Belarus and of moral support to human rights defenders, journalists and activists, who continue their work in the country dubbed “Europe’s last dictatorship.”
“We will observe this day every year, until the situation of civil society in Belarus changes: until its authorities put an end to imprisoning people for human rights activities, until there is a guarantee of fundamental human rights: freedom of expression, assembly and association,” the Solidarity Day Manifesto reads.
Last year, actions dedicated to the International Day of Solidarity with Civil Society of Belarus were held in 18 countries of the world. This year the organisers call on people around the globe to send letters of support to Belarusian political prisoners and human rights defenders, to publish articles and hold events about the situation in Belarus. A detailed list of possible actions within the framework of the Solidarity Day can be found here.
Ales Bialiatski, a Peace Nobel Prize nominee and a leader of Human Rights Centre Viasna, was arrested 4 August 2011, and currently serving a four-and-a-half year prison sentence for alleged tax evasion. The income on which he was found guilty of not paying taxes had in fact been used to support victims of human rights violations in Belarus.
According to Belarusian human rights defenders, there are currently 12 political prisoners in Belarus. The country is also criticised for failing to have free and fair elections and serious violations of fundamental rights and freedoms of its citizens.
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Iryna Khalip (Photo Kseniya Avimova/Demotix)
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13 Jun 2013 | Europe and Central Asia
A resolution that was adopted today in Geneva extends the mandate of Miklos Haraszti, a Special Rapporteur on human rights situation in Belarus, for one more year. Andrei Aliaksandrau reports
The UN Human Rights Council expressed its “deep concern at continuing violations of human rights in Belarus, which are of a structural and endemic nature, and also at the systemic and systematic restrictions on human rights, especially in the case of the freedoms of association, of assembly, and of opinion and expression, as well as the guarantees of due process and fair trial.”
The Council strongly urged the Belarusian government to “immediately and unconditionally release and rehabilitate all political prisoners, and to rehabilitate those who have already been released, to address, through comprehensive, transparent and credible investigations, reports of torture and ill-treatment by law-enforcement officials, and to put an immediate end to the arbitrary detention of human rights defenders and political opponents, arbitrary travel bans and other policies aimed at intimidating representatives of the political opposition and the media, as well as human rights defenders and civil society.”
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The resolution extends the mandate of a Special Rapporteur on human rights situation in Belarus and urges the government of the country to cooperate fully with the Miklos Haraszti, including by providing him access to visit Belarus. Previously, he was denied a visa to enter the country, and it is likely still to be the case in future. Mikhail Khvostov, the Permanent Representative of Belarus to the UN Office in Geneva, reiterated just before the voting that Belarus does not recognize the mandate of the Special Rapporteur. He also described the resolution proposed by the European Union as an “act of aggression against the United Nations,” BelaPAN News Agency reported.
Twenty-six countries voted in favour of the resolution, while three countries voted against it and 18 more abstained. The attempts of delegations of several “like-minded” states to prevent a critical resolution on Belarus, failed.
“This is a significant resolution that allows keeping the alarming human rights situation in Belarus in focus of international community. I hope the authorities of the country change their aggressive attitude towards the Special Rapporteur and start cooperating with him to bring positive changes to the situation,” Tatsiana Raviaka, a representative of the Human Rights Centre “Viasna”, told Index.
