Civil society activists had a meeting with Belarusian MPs
On 7 August the head of the Center for
Legal Transformation Alena Tankachova and the lawyer of the Assembly
of Democratic NGOs of Belarus Yuru Chavusau met with representatives
of the Regular Commission of the Chamber of Representatives for Human
Rights, National Relations and Mass Media. The Parliament was
represented by MP Valery Kokash and a representative of the
secretariat of the Chamber of Representatives.
During the
meeting, the sides discussed issues of preparation for the second
reading of the draft law "On amendments and additions to certain
laws on political parties and other public associations", which
was adopted in the first reading on 30 May 2013. As expected, the
second reading of the bill will take place during the autumn session
of the House of Representatives. Unfortunately, the Parliament has
not shown interest in holding the parliamentary hearings on
improvement of the legislation on public associations prior to the
second reading of the law. However, Mr. Kokash stated that the
Parliament was open to specific comments and suggestions on the text
of the bill. For their part, representatives of civil society
expressed their intention to present such additional comments and
suggestions and invited members of the parliamentary commission to
the public hearings on the bill, which they intend to hold in the
beginning of October.
During the meeting, a special attention
was paid to the implementation by the Republic of Belarus of its
human rights obligations under the Universal Periodic Review of the
UN. The civil society representatives noted the need for an
invitation to Belarus of special rapporteurs and other mandate
holders of the UN and ratification of international human rights
conventions and their optional protocols.
The MP also informed
Alena Tankachova and Yury Chavusau that the Regular Commission of the
Chamber of Representatives on National Security was put in charge of
the drafting of the Law “On Alternative Civilian Service”.
At
the end of the meeting, the civil society representatives expressed
the wish that the consultations of the Commission on Human Rights
with the public be held on a regular basis without being confined to
consideration of written proposals and reception of visitors. In
particular, regular counsels of the commission with interested
representatives of the civil society could become a good platform for
dialogue .