The Human Rights Center “Viasna”

01.02.2010 Östgruppen condemns sentence to Ivan Mikhailau

The Swedish human rights organization Östgruppen submitted to the Parliaments of Sweden and the EU a protest note concerning the sentence to Ivan Mikhailau, 21, conscientious objector to army service in Belarus.

29.01.2010 UN confirmed violations of rights of Belarusian oppositionist

The Human Rights Committee established a fact of violation of the right of democratic activist Valery Lukyanchyk to be elected to the “house of representatives” at the “elections” on October 17, 2004.

Conclusions on the complaint published on the website of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights allow making such a statement, BelaPAN learnt from human rights activist Raman Kislyak.

29.01.2010 AEJ supports Belarus journalists' demands for media freedom as elections approach

The Association of European Journalists, representing more than 1000 journalists in more than 20 countries, deplores and condemns the Belarus government's controls, interference and threats of closure or prosecution of independent media in the country and we call urgently for an end to those abuses of democratic amd media freedoms.

20.01.2010 Human Rights Watch declares Autukhovich, Asipenka and Liavonau prisoners of conscience

In its annual report, the New-York-based Human Rights Watch international organizations declared Mikalai Autukhovich, Uladzimer Asipenka, Yury Liavonau and Artsiom Dubski prisoners of conscience. The report highlights an increasing number of attacks against human rights activists and NGOs across the world in 2009.

11.01.2010 ’Reporters Without Borders’ is worried about the government’s plans to tighten control of the Internet

Reporters Without Borders is worried about the government’s plans to tighten control of the Internet in a country where free expression is already restricted. President Alexander Lukashenko acknowledged on 30 December that his government is putting the final touches to a bill to this effect. The draft decree was leaked to the media on December 14, 2009. The discussions around it remain secret.

24.12.2009 UN Human Rights Committee registers complaint by Homel opposition activists

The UN Human Rights Committee has registered the individual complaint by Homel opposition activists Aliaksandr Protska and Andrei Tolchyn, the BelaPAN news agency reports. The complaint has also been sent to the Belarusian government for comments.

23.12.2009 OSCE PA concerned over media freedom in Belarus, Swedish MP says

The Working Group on Belarus at the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly is concerned over the situation regarding freedom of the media and organizations, as well as a lack of opportunities for political parties to get fully involved in the country's political life, Swedish MP Cecilia Wigstrom told reporters in Minsk on December 22.

Ms. Wigstrom, a member of the working group, is leading a delegation of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly that arrived in Belarus on a three-day visit on Sunday.

22.12.2009 Authorities oppose UN’s consideration of communication by Zhuk’s mother

According to human rights activist Raman Kisliak, the Belarusian government appeals against the admissibility of communication filed by mother of death convict Andrei Zhuk, claiming that the facts mentioned are false, namely he allegedly failed to exhaust all domestic remedies.

02.12.2009 Human rights activists submit alternative report to UN

A number of key Belarusian human rights NGOs, including the Human Rights Center Viasna, the Belarusian Helsinki Committee, the Belarusian Assembly of Pro-Democratic NGOs and the Belarusian Association of Journalists, have compiled an alternative report on human rights in Belarus to be considered by the UN Human Rights Council.

02.12.2009 Jean-Louis Laurens: ‘The abolition of the death penalty requires the political will of the country’s leaders’

‘Of course, the Special Guest status is very important, but its absence is not an obstacle to the cooperation between the Council of Europe and Belarus in various fields,’ said Jean-Louis Laurens, Council of Europe's Director General of Democracy and Political Affairs, during his visit to Minsk, six months after PACE named the abolition of or the declaration of a moratorium on the death penalty as the key condition for the restoration of the country’s Special Guest status in the Council of Europe.

25.11.2009 Smarhon resident submits complaint to UN Human Rights Committee

Viktar Kavaleuski from the town of Smarhon, Hrodna region, has submitted an individual complaint to the UN Human Rights Committee, claiming that he was illegally forced to pay membership fee to an organization, while he was not its member, www.smargonbel.byhost.org reports.

23.11.2009 Brest activists submit complaints to UN Human Rights Committee

Three Brest activists Iryna Laurouskaya, Raman Kisliak and Dzianis Turchyniak have submitted their individual complaints to the UN Human Rights Committee. The activists claim that their rights to free expression and peaceful assembly have been violated. They also say they have faced discrimination due to their beliefs and abuses of judicial procedures, naming it an outrage against their right to a fair trial.

20.11.2009 BHC joins ENEMO

The Belarusian Helsinki Committee has become member of the ENEMO European Network of Election Monitoring Organizations. ENEMO is an association of civil NGOs from 16 Balkan, USSR and SEE countries. These NGOs are the leading organizations in their countries within Election monitoring area. All together, they have monitored over 110 national and international elections and trained over 100,000 observers. BHC is the second Belarusian NGO, after the Human Rights Center Viasna, to join the network.

18.11.2009 Authorities ignore complaint by family of missing person

16 November was the deadline for the Belarusian authorities to provide their comments on the complaint submitted to the UN Human Rights Committee by the family of the disappeared Anatol Krasouski. The complaint submitted by Iryna and Valerya Krasouskis was registered by the Committee on 16 November 2008, its copy being sent to the respondent, www.ciwr.org reports. The Belarusian authorities were initially to respond to the complaint by 16 May 2009. However, they demanded translating the document in Russian, instead, and thus received 6 more months for providing their comments. As yet, there is no reply to the complaint.