Brest: the only human rights rally in Belarus on Human Rights Day

In Belarus the only rally dated to the 61st anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Human Rights Day was sanctioned in Brest, at the Locomotive stadium that has been determined by Brest authorities as the only place for the opposition’s mass actions.

The rally gathered several tens of people including representatives of independent trade unions, human rights defenders and activists of parties and movements. In their speeches the action participants raised the question of the protection of human rights in Belarus and in Brest region (including the right to work, the right to peaceful assembly) and touched upon the problems of the local political parties and trade unions. They also said that the action could gather by far more participants if it was held not at a desolate stadium surrounded by a concrete fence, but in the center of Brest.

The action participants adopted a resolution in which they protest against human rights violations and state the necessity to unite the forces of all interested structures, organizations and citizens to struggle against such violations.

’The rally again showed that the monitoring of human rights violations in the region is conducted and it is necessary to make the authorities take action for their liquidation,’ said to BelaPAN the human rights defender Uladzimir Malei.

Bear in mind that the Belarusian authorities didn’t sanction any other mass actions in 14 towns and cities of Belarus, where the appropriate applications were filed to them. Nevertheless, on 10 December civil activists and human rights defenders took out to the streets in many settlements to congratulate the citizens on the Human Rights Day.