News on the topic: freedom of association
02.10.2014 Supreme Court upholds registration denial to “Covenant”
The Supreme Court upheld the legality and validity of the position of the Ministry of Justice, which refused to register the national human rights NGO "Movement for the implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights" ("Covenant").
01.10.2014 Anzhalika Borys: this was political order
The leadership of the oppositional Union of Poles in Belarus states about politically motivated harassment.
18.09.2014 Belarusian NGOs sent its report as part of the Universal Periodic Review to the UN
Report, presented to the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights provides an overview of situation with the human rights in Belarus. Human rights defenders have expressed anxiety about the lack of real progress on key problem spheres of human rights in the country, noting concrete steps of the implementation of the recommendations made and accepted by Belarus in the first cycle of the UPR.
01.09.2014 Maksim Viniarski sentenced to 15 days of arrest
September 1, coordinator of the civil campaign “European Belarus” Maksim Viniarski was tried at the Savetski District Court in Minsk. Due to the failure of the witnesses to appear in court, the hearing was postponed to 2 p.m.
27.08.2014 Homel activists appeal ban on NGO registration
On August 26, founders of the republican human rights association “Pakt” (“Covenan”), a movement for the implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, submitted to the Supreme Court their appeal against the refusal of the Ministry of Justice to register the public association.
18.08.2014 Spadchyna NGO takes fresh attempt to register
Civil society activists of Biaroza and Lida are going to resume their efforts to register local cultural and educational association Spadchyna (“Heritage”).
15.08.2014 Council of Ministers refuses to raise an legal issue at Constitutional Court on request of Vitsebsk residents
Several dozen residents of Vitsebsk have signed a collective letter to the Council of Ministers to contribute to change the regulation of the Vitebsk City Executive Committee №881 "On Mass Events in Vitsebsk" and initiate an appeal to the Constitutional Court to verify compliance of this document with the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus. The regional coordinator of the movement "For Freedom" Khrystafor received a refusal.
08.08.2014 AZERBAIJAN: Increasing repression against civil society severely tarnishes Azerbaijan's Presidency of the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers
Paris-Geneva, August 6, 2014 - The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, an FIDH-OMCT joint programme, deplores the recent acts of harassment and arrests of prominent human rights defenders Rasul Jafarov, Leyla Yunus and Arif Yunusov, and calls on the authorities to put an end to the ongoing repression against civil society organisations and representatives.
06.08.2014 “Extremism” again: Maksim Viniarski is summoned to police
Activist of "European Belarus" Maksim Viniarski is summoned to the Frunzenski District Police Department of Minsk for August 7 to be issued an official warning for "extremism".
21.07.2014 Students advised to abandon NGO activities, says independent monitoring
Belarus has intensified pressure on the students for their participation in the activities of civil society organizations, say coordinators of a monitoring on violations of human rights and academic freedoms of students carried out by the Studentskaya Rada NGO in the framework of the Public Committee of Bologna.
18.07.2014 Tell the Truth activist in Belaaziorsk appeals warning to Supreme Court
Aliaksandr Kuzmin, a civil society activist from the town of Belaaziorsk, Brest region, has lodged a complaint with the Supreme Court to appeal against a written warning for activities on behalf of an unregistered organization “Tell the Truth”. Earlier, the Brest Regional Court refused to reverse the warning received by the activist in March 2013 from the prosecutor of Biaroza district.
14.07.2014 Ales Bialiatski's visit to Warsaw ends with “mining”
On the last day of his visit to the Polish capital the head of the Human Rights Center "Viasna" Ales Bialiatski participated in an international conference, during which he talked about the situation of human rights in Belarus. Suddenly, during his speech there was received a telephone call about mining the room in which the event was held.
10.07.2014 Ales Bialiatski's first visit to Poland after release from jail
"For the three years I spent in prison, I was struck by the fact that many non-political, cultural, linguistic and social initiatives appeared in Belarus. This proves that our civil society develops," stated Mr. Bialiatski at a meeting in Warsaw. His visit to the Polish capital completes the tour of the Belarusian human rights activist across European countries.
09.07.2014 Tamara Siarhei considers another summons to Prosecutor's office as a means of intimidation
July 8, human rights activist Tamara Siarhei was once again summoned to the Prosecutor General's Office to the Deputy Head of the Department for the rights and freedoms of citizens, Pavel Yeliseyeu.
30.06.2014 New human rights group to appear in Belarus
A group of human rights defenders has submitted to the Ministry of Justice documents for registration of the National Human Rights Association PAKT (“Covenant”, a movement for the implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights). The organization’s constituent assembly has elected chairman, Mikhail Pastukhou, vice-chairman, Viktar Karniayenka, and executive director, human rights activist Leanid Sudalenka.
