Andrey Yurov: “I cannot say that we have achieved brilliant success in Belarus”
Well-known
Russian human rights activist Andrey Yurov, head of the International
Observation Mission of the Committee on International Control over the
Situation with Human Rights in Belarus, wrote a brief
article in which he summarized the main results of 2011 and noted the
important trends for the future of the human rights movement in the CIS
countries.
Andrey Yurov names the situation in Belarus after the presidential election in
December 2010 as a landmark. “There is still harassment of civic leaders, human
rights activists and journalists, mass deportation of foreigners, including
Russians, which has never been seen before,” says the human rights defender.
Andrey Yurov called the establishment of the Committee on International Control
over the Human Rights Situation in Belarus as a successful step. “It’s a
huge coalition of nongovernmental organizations around the world who chose to
work in Belarus unless the human rights situation
there improves. We have created this coalition with the intention of
working for a long time, responsibly and professionally. This is the first
serious challenge for the solidarity of civil society in the post-Soviet region. It
seems to me that this very structure, including its separate parts – the
rapporteur, the observation mission, a group of international advocacy – can be
a unique model of how to act. At the same time, I cannot yet say that we
have achieved brilliant success in Belarus”, noted the head of the Observation
Mission of the Committee.
“Having observed the example of Belarus, we are now convinced that such
major organizations as the UN and OSCE, which are designed to change situation
of human rights for the better, have proven to be powerless. There are no
effective international mechanisms, which could quickly remedy the situation”, stated
Andrey Yurov.