UN Rapporteur Miklos Haraszti publishes a report on Belarus
The UN
Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Belarus, Miklos
Haraszti, has published his first report on the situation of human
rights in the country. The document was prepared under the mandate
approved by the UN Council on Human Rights, and presented at the
Council on 18 April.
According to Mr. Haraszti, human rights
are systematically limited, especially in the case of freedom of
association, assembly and expression, as well as the
right to fair trial. The Special Rapporteur
notes the centralization of the legislative and executive branches
around Lukashenka's administration.
Miklos
Haraszti is concerned about the lack of the rule of law in Belarus,
in particular with regard to the procedural safeguards provided for
in Article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights. Numerous meetings with human rights defenders and victims of
human rights violations reflect a distrust of the legal system. As
there is no belief that the legal system can be a guarantor of the
rights in situations where it is contrary to the interests of the
authorities.
According to the report, widespread violations of
human rights are overlooked, which
emphasizes the centralization of the legislative and executive
branches around the presidential administration. Lukashenka's decrees
are used as the main laws and, in fact, have a higher legal force in
the legislative mechanism of the country.
More specifically,
the Special Rapporteur to the following questions in his report:
1.
The right to life and the death penalty;
2. Enforced
disappearances;
3. Prison conditions, torture and other cruel,
inhuman and humiliating treatment;
4. Attitude towards political
opponents, human rights defenders and activists;
5. The
independence of judges and lawyers;
6. Free trial;
7. Arbitrary
detentions and convictions;
8. Freedom of expression and
opinion;
9. Freedom of peaceful assembly;
10. Freedom of
association and human rights defenders;
11. Discrimination;
12.
Attitude towards LGBT persons;
13. Labor rights and trade
unions;
14. Elections.
In the section concerning
freedom of association and human rights defenders, the Special
Rapporteur notes that though the recent and the planned changes to
the legislation have some positive norms, there
has been no improvements in the general situation
of public associations. The Special Rapporteur draws attention to the
fact that according to the presidential decree of 24
January 2013, institutions and associations can
be liquidated if their leaders are put on prophylactic register – a
procedure which remains legally undefined and arbitrary.
Mr.
Hararszti highlights the pressure on human
rights organizations, including the judicial liquidation of the human
rights organization "Platform" and the confiscation of the
premises of the Human
Rights Center "Viasna".
The document also contains
recommendations to improve the human rights situation in Belarus.
Among other things, the Special Rapporteur recommends changes in
legislation and practice to ensure that associations could be created
through a procedure that is simple, easily accessible,
non-discriminatory, unimpeded and
free.
Bear in mind that the
Mandate of the Special Rapporteur on Belarus was established by the
UN Human Rights Council on 5 July
2012, and in September Miklos Haraszti, a
representative of Hungary, was appointed to
this position. Based on the results of his
activities, he was to
present a report on the human rights situation in Belarus, the UN
Council on Human Rights and the UN General Assembly. However, the
Belarusian authorities refused to cooperate with the Special
Rapporteur. M. Haraszti
wasn't given an opportunity
to visit Belarus to study the situation on the ground, including
meetings with state
officials: the Belarusian authorities denied him a visa.
The
report
in English can be found on the website of the Belarusian Human
Rights House in Vilnius.