News on the topic: human rights
11.11.2011 Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders asked to stop defamation of Ales Bialiatski
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), has received new information and requests your intervention in the following situation in Belarus.
02.11.2011 Trial of Belarus Human Rights Defender Ales Bialiatski Opens Today
Front Line Defenders Deputy Director Unable to Enter Country to Visit Other HRDs
04.10.2011 Foreign experience is inapplicable for Brest authorities
Brest activists of political parties received an answer to their collective appeal to the deputies of the House of Representatives, which dealt with improving the law on mass events.
04.10.2011 Homel: provincial offenders can spend 80-200 days in remand prisons
On 2 October Andrei Tsianiuta and Dzmitry Shauchenka were released from jail after serving 15 and 10 days of arrest respectively. Dzmitry Tsianiuta was punished for handing out leaflets with invitations to a “silent protest” action, and Andrei Tsianiuta – for leaflets inviting people to take part in the People’s Assembly on 8 October.
30.09.2011 EU leaders issue declaration condemning Belarus for its "deteriorating" human rights record
The leaders of the European Union’s member countries issued a declaration condemning Belarus for its "deteriorating" record on human rights and rule of law as a result of the September 29-30 EU Eastern Partnership summit in Warsaw after the delegations of five post-Soviet nations participating in the Eastern Partnership – Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine – had spoken out against including a paragraph to this effect in the summit’s joint declaration.
26.09.2011 UN Human Rights Council hears report on situation in Belarus
The UN Human Rights Council has considered the interim report on the situation of political prisoners, human rights defenders, journalists and lawyers following the 19 December 2010 presidential election in Belarus.
18.07.2011 OSCE Moscow Mechanism report on Belarus
On 16 June 2011, Emmanuel Decaux, OSCE Moscow Mechanism rapporteur, presented to the OSCE Permanent Council today his report about the human rights situation and implementation of OSCE commitments in Belarus since the December 2010 presidential election.
30.06.2011 FIDH presents its report on the restrictions to the political and civil rights of citizens of Belarus after the 2010 presidential elections at press conference in Minsk
Today, in Minsk, FIDH representatives hold a press conference to present the fact-finding mission report on the situation in Belarus. Participants in the Mission collected dozens of witness testimonies from candidates for the presidency of Belarus and representatives from campaign headquarters for presidential candidates, who had been freed from detention by that time, relatives of those arrested, attorneys, members of human rights organizations, journalists, and representatives of European diplomatic missions.
22.06.2011 Amnesty International: Unprecedented deterioration in the human rights situation in Belarus
Amnesty International says in its report that clampdown on dissenting voices continues unabated in Belarus six months after the country’s presidential elections.
20.06.2011 UN Human Rights Council condemns election-related violence in Belarus
The United Nations Human Rights Council voted Friday to condemn human rights violations before, during and after the December 2010 presidential election in Belarus, and urged the government to end what called the persecution of opposition leaders, reported BelaPAN.
16.05.2011 Bitter Winter in Belarus
The FIDH 7-minute film Bitter Winter in Belarus denounces the violent repression exercised by the Belarus authorities against all the dissident voices that have protested against the rigging of the December 19, 2010 presidential elections.
13.05.2011 We invite you to join the discussion of the Strategy of Belarusian Human Rights Movement
The draft Strategy of Belarusian Human Rights Movement was adopted by the 2nd Belarusian human rights forum in September 2010. But the dramatic events of 19-20 December 2010 changed the situation in Belarus drastically, they became a challenge for the human rights community. Cruel violence against the electoral process participants, the oppression of civil society in the country, violence against the opposition politicians and participants of the peaceful protest, the maximum limitation of the rights and freedoms— all that required from the Belarusian human rights activists to strengthen their activity and to work on a new level. Under these circumstances, the expert group considered it extremely important to renew a broad discussion regarding a strategy on which the fulfilment of our common mission can be based in the current situation. We are publishing the draft Strategy as a starting point for this discussion.
25.04.2011 Weekly review of post-election situation in Belarus (18-24 April)
The 11 April terrorist act in Minsk metro was followed by increasing harassment of independent mass media: prosecuting and executive authorities addressed warnings to individual journalists and editorial boards of several media. Public media launched a campaign of discrediting against independent mass media. In these circumstances, the Belarusian Association of Journalists released a statement entitled “Stop Persecution of Our Colleagues!” Another person was reported as involved in the mass riot criminal case – Vital Stazharau. The dates of trials of 11 defendants in the 19 December 2010 case were appointed. On 19 April, activists of the “Nash Dom” civil campaign Valery Shchukin, Aleh Barshcheuski, Pavel Levinau and Pavel Staneuski were preventively detained and later sentenced to administrative arrests. Another activist Volha Karach was fined. The authorities banned all events marking the 25th anniversary of Chernobyl disaster.
22.04.2011 Statement of the Steering Council of the Committee on International Control
The participating organizations of the Committee on International Control over the Situation with Human Rights in Belarus are concerned about the situation regarding representatives of the International Observation Mission, established under the auspices of the Committee. These concerns are especially relevant in light of recent invocation of the OSCE Moscow Mechanism with regard to Belarus and also in the light of statements of representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus containing claims that Belarus strictly observes all OSCE commitments in the human dimension.
18.04.2011 Weekly review of post-election situation in Belarus (11-17 April)
The past week was marred by a terrible tragedy that made all other events fall by the wayside: on 11 April Minsk Kastrychnitskaya central metro station was rocked by a powerful blast, claiming 13 lives and causing injuries to over 200 more people. April 13 was declared a national day of morning. The explosion was qualified as an act of terrorism, the news that shocked Belarus as it had always been thought of as a rather safe country. On 12 April, a PACE meeting in Strasbourg considered the scheduled Belarusian issues, which was condemned by the official media, who labeled the human rights defenders attending the meeting as “a fifth column”, naming their actions “dance on bones”. However, the state-run media failed to mention a one-minute silence that opened the PACE session. A number of Belarusian politicians and journalists, including opposition leader Aliaksandr Milinkevich, independent columnist Aliaksandr Starykevich and former KGB officer Valery Kostka, were officially warned by the General Prosecutor’s Office for alleged dissemination of “ungrounded data on the 11 April tragedy.” Furthermore, the Information Ministry issued similar warnings to the Nasha Niva and Narodnaya Volya independent periodicals, together with the UzHorak minor local newspaper. Several case files of persons involved in the 19 December 2010 events were submitted to courts. Civil activists kept campaigning for the release of journalist Andrzej Poczobut, arrested on charges of libel of the President.
