The Human Rights Center “Viasna”

A number of human rights organizations (Human Rights Center “Viasna”, Belarusian Human Rights House, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), Human Rights House Foundation, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International) adopted a special statement describing the deteriorating human rights situation in Belarus and emphasizing the need of appointing a Special Rapporteur on Belarus at the UN.

We, the undersigned members and partners of the Human Rights House Network, are deeply concerned about the recent arrest of the Belarusian human rights defender Aleh Volchak and the ongoing pressure against him and other human rights defenders in Belarus. We strongly believe that Aleh Volchak's detention is linked to his legitimate human rights work, including his latest publication about the deteriorating political situation in Belarus on the Internet on the eve of his arrest.

Arbitrary detention is used in Belarus against political opponents and persons exercising their freedoms of conscience, opinion and expression. The use of arbitrary detention as a tool of systematic repression of critical voices constitutes a serious violation of human rights as the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention underlines1. We urge the authorities of the Republic of Belarus to release all political prisoners and to compensate them for the harm suffered.

The condemnation of Ales Bialiatski illustrates how seriously threatened freedom of association and freedom of expression are in Belarus. Members and partners of the Human Rights House Network call upon Belarusian authorities to immediately release and drop all charges against human rights defender Ales Bialiatski; to fully rehabilitate him and to ensure unhampered activities of human rights and other civil society organizations.

On 22-23 September Vilnius hosted the 2010 Human Rights House Network (HRHN) Annual Meeting, a forum of cooperation between established and emerging Human Rights Houses, uniting 70 NGOs in 15 countries. The Meeting was attended by human rights defenders from 17 countries.

The Belarusian Human Rights House and the Human Rights House Foundation have received a reply to their appeal to the Supreme Court of Belarus. The official letter signed by Deputy Chair of the Supreme Court Valery Vyshkevich left the appeal without reply saying that the claimants ‘are not legally interested persons’ under the Civil Procedural Code of Belarus.

The leader of Homel oppositionists Uladzimir Katsora, who has been arrested for an action in the memory of the police general Yury Zakharanka, stopped dry hunger-strike after six days.

The Human Rights House Foundation (Oslo, Norway, and Geneva, Switzerland) and the Belarusian Human Rights House in exile in Vilnius, Lithuania, hereby submit the present follow-up note to the Human Rights Committee (hereinafter, “HR Committee”) on the View Belyatsky et al. vs. Belarus on the communication No. 1296/2004 of 24 July 2007, published on 7 August 2007 (hereinafter, “the View”).