Human rights defenders Pay attention to use of torture in Belarus
A group of human rights
defenders from different Belarusian human rights organizations prepared an
alternative report to the UN Committee against Torture. The report concerns the
international undertakings of Belarus
according to the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or
Degrading Kinds of Treatment and Punishment. This is the first alternative
report on torture that will be presented to the UN in December and will be
considered by the Committee against Torture as early as spring 2011.
’This report is a reaction of the human rights defenders to the fourth
periodical report that was presented by Belarus to the UN for the last 10 years
and covers many aspects of the law-enforcement activities of the police and the
prosecutorial supervision,’ explained the human rights defender Enira
Branitskaya.
’Our report contains some objective criticism towards the state with the aim of
all-sided covering of the existing problems such as the non-objective
investigation of the cases of tortures or improper prison conditions in
Belarus. However, we are ready to look for a constructive approach to solving
these problems both at the legislative and the law-enforcement level in
cooperation with the procuracies, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and other
state agencies,’ said the human rights defender Siarhei Ustsinau.
Human rights defenders believe that only cooperative actions can help in
eradicating the use of torture in Belarus.
