About "Viasna"
Human Rights Center "Viasna"
E-mail: viasna@spring96.org
web-site: www.spring96.org
Human Rights Center "Viasna" is a non-governmental human rights organization, created in 1996 during mass protest actions of the democratic opposition in Belarus. Viasna was initially a group created to help the arrested rally participants and their families. That’s why originally Viasna had the name “Viasna-96”. On 15 June 1999 the organization was registered as the Human Rights Center "Viasna". It is a national NGO with the central office in Minsk and regional organizations in the majority of Belarusian cities. Viasna has about 200 members all over the country. The organization is managed by the Council and chair of the Council, elected by the General Congress.
On 28 October 2003 the Supreme Court of the Republic of Belarus groundlessly cancelled registration of Viasna for its participation in observation of the presidential election in 2001. On 6 March 2004 the Human Rights Center "Viasna" became member of the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH).
The main goal of Viasna is to contribute to development of the civic society in Belarus, based on respect to human rights, described in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus.
Objectives of the Human Rights Center "Viasna":
Practical assistance to civic initiatives in the sphere of legal defense of citizens;
Research into the state of the civic society and legal defense in the Republic of Belarus;
Civic and human rights education;
Promotion of democracy and human rights;
Support of civic initiatives in the sphere of human rights
Methods of our work:
• Collecting information about development of the civic society and the state of rights awareness in the Republic of Belarus;
• Organizing seminars, conferences, lectures, round-tables both for our members and different segments of population;
• Researching and monitoring the human rights situation in Belarus, assisting in implementation of international pacts in the sphere of human rights, ratified by the Republic of Belarus;
• Publishing and spreading informational and educational materials in the sphere of human rights;
• Keeping contact with all branches of power and with non-governmental, commercial, research and educational institutions;
• Rendering needed assistance to citizens
Viasna is a member of:
FIDH (International Federation of Human Rights)
ENEMO (European Network of Election Monitoring Organizations)
Working Group of CIS NGOs for Conflict Prevention and Resolution
Assembly of Democratic Non-governmental Organizations of Belarus
Our international and foreign partners:
• “Svenska Freds” – Organization for Peace and Arbitration (Stockholm, Sweden)
• “Poland-Belarus” Education Center (Bialystok, Poland)
• Amnesty International Foundation (Sweden)
• Human Rights Institute (Moscow, Russia)
• People in Need (Prague, Czech Republic)
• Polish Helsinki Committee for Human Rights
• Swedish Helsinki Committee for Human Rights
• Norwegian Helsinki Committee for Human Rights
• FIDH (International Federation of Human Rights)
• ENEMO (European Network of Election Monitoring Organizations)
• IDEE (Washington, D.C.)
• Amnesty International
• Human Rights House (Norway)
• Vilnius Civic Initiatives Center “Democracy for Belarus” (Lithuania)
