Human
rights defenders brought to silence:
Urgent need to support Belarusian civil society
Statement
from the Meeting of the Human Rights House Network
Bergen, Norway, October 31, 2003
We, delegates to the
Human Rights House Network’s annual meeting express our deep
concern about the Belarusian authorities’ campaign to
destroy civil society in Belarus. The campaign appears to be a
systematic attempt to silence human rights defenders and
prevent the development of a pluralist democratic society.
On
October 28th 2003, the Human Rights Center
“Viasna”, one of the few remaining human rights
organisations in Belarus, was closed down by the Belarusian
Supreme Court. The prominent human rights organisation was the
last, so far, of eight such organisations to be closed during
2003. This year’s Human Rights House Network meeting condemn
the closure of the Human Rights Center “Viasna” as well as
previous shut-downs of other organisations, including
“Ratusha”, “Civic Initiatives” and “Legal Assistance
to the Population”. Eleven other non-governmental
organisations may also be closed in the near future.
The
authorities’ campaign has also been directed at the
independent media. The major independent newspaper
Belorusskaja Delovaja Gazeta as well as seven smaller
newspapers have been suspended by the Ministry of Information
for three months. Twenty newspapers have incurred penalties.
These measures have already led to the closing of some of
them.
In
addition to such violations of the freedom of expression and
association and the right to be a human rights defender, the
right to education in the native language is also becoming
increasingly restricted. In what seems like an attempt to
control education, the authorities recently closed the Yakub
Kolas National Humanitarian Lyceum, the only independent
wholly Belarusian-language secondary school.
These
events coincide with the build-up to the parliamentary
elections scheduled for the autumn of 2004 and amount to an
all-encompassing attack on Belarusian civil society. The
participants of this year’s Human Rights House Network’s
meeting wish to express their conviction that a vibrant civil
society is mandatory for democracy to grow. Hence, we believe
that Belarusian authorities must take action to reinstate safe
working conditions for all organisations and individuals
working for democracy and human rights. This opinion is shared
for instance by the OSCE Mission in Belarus which has recently
urged Belarusian authorities to stop their attacks on NGOs and
independent media.
The
Human Rights House Network would like to draw attention to the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Articles
21 and 22, to which Belarus is a state party, expressing the
freedom of association and assembly, and Article 19 in UNs
Universal Declaration for Human Rights expressing the freedom
of expression. These rights are also guaranteed by the
Belarusian Constitution. We also refer to Article 1 of the
United Nations’ Declaration on Human Rights Defenders,
stating that “everyone has the right, individually and in
association with others, to promote and to strive for the
protection and realisation of human rights and fundamental
freedoms at the national and international levels”. The
Human Rights House Network urges Belarusian authorities to
bring its conduct in compliance with these commitments.
The
delegates to the Human Rights House Network’s meeting appeal
to the authorities of all the countries we represent to
increase their moral, political and financial support to civil
society in Belarus. The meeting also calls upon these
authorities to urge their Belarusian counterparts to cease the
persecution of civil society and to observe internationally
agreed human rights standards. This message can be conveyed
through multilateral institutions, but support must also be
channelled directly to non-governmental organisations working
to promote democracy and human rights.
We,
delegates to the Human Rights House Nertwork’s annual
meeting, representing non-governmental human rights
organisations in Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,
Kenya, Norway, Poland, Russia, Turkey and Uganda, express our
solidarity with human rights defenders in Belarus in their
difficult struggle for the respect of democracy and
international human rights.
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