Geneva
– Paris, August 22, 2023 - Since 2020, human rights defenders have been one of the most actively persecuted social groups in Belarus. This massive crackdown has made it impossible for activists to engage in human rights work without risking their dignity, freedom and even their lives. All human rights organisations, independent media and trade unions have been closed down, and their activities were deemed extremist and constituting criminal offences.
As
of August 1, 2023, at least 93 human rights defenders, including
members and employees of human rights organisations, trade unionists,
lawyers and journalists, had been detained on fabricated charges.
The 2022 Nobel Peace Prize laureate and a chairperson of Human Rights
Center ‘Viasna’ Ales
Bialiatski,
his deputy Valiantsin
Stefanovich,
and Viasna activists Uladzimir
Labkovich,
Marfa
Rabkova,
Ales
Chapuik,
and human rights defender Nasta
Loika
are among those currently in detention.
“We
observe that the Belarusian government uses a wide array of tools and
policies to persecute human rights defenders in the country,” said
Eugenia
Andreyuk, the OMCT Regional Programme Coordinator. This
ranges from changing legislation and labelling some human rights
activities as extremism, to closing down organisations and
prosecuting defenders. This is a systematic policy directed against a
specific social group which amounts to crime against humanity.”
“The
detention and forced exile of human rights defenders deprived victims
of human rights violations and vulnerable groups of the much-needed
assistance and remedies they so desperately require, explains
Ilya Nuzov, Director of FIDH's office for Eastern Europe and Central
Asia.
What’s more, this situation creates an obstacle for the
international community to obtain credible information about human
rights violations occurring in the country, including in places of
detention.”
The
report investigates the systematic repression of human rights
defenders in Belarus before and after the 2020 mass protests,
including by highlighting restrictive legislation and specific
repressive tools deployed by the state. It also makes recommendations
to the Belarusian government, other States and international
organisations on how to restore and safeguard civic space and protect
human rights defenders.
For
more information, please contact:
OMCT
: Claire-Marie Germain cmg@omct.org
FIDH
: Maxime Duriez : +33 6 48 05 91 57 | mduriez@fidh.org
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