News on the topic: international organizations
10.12.2008 Minsk: dispersal of opposition rally near central KGB office
On 10 December youth activists dressed in stripped prison clothing protested near the central office of the State Security Committee (KGB).
02.12.2008 Vitsebsk: human rights activist is not allowed to hold pickets
Pavel Levinau, activist of the Belarusian Helsinki Committee, intended to hold a number of pickets dedicated to the 60th anniversary of the Universal Human Rights Declaration. He addressed Vitsebsk authorities with the request to authorize the actions and received a refusal signed by the deputy head of Vitsebsk city executive committee Pavel Losich.
01.12.2008 Reporters Without Borders call Belarusian authorities not to increase surveillance of Internet
Reporters Without Borders has learned that two independent newspapers that were dropped from official distribution networks for criticizing the government - the weekly Narodnaya Volia and the fortnightly Nasha Niva - yesterday signed contracts that will allow them to appear in the state postal monopoly Belposhta’s newspaper subscription catalogue and to be on sale in the state-owned Belsayuzdruk’s chain of newsstands.
17.11.2008 Leader of “Civil Initiatives” sues Belarusian MFA
Public activist Uladzimer Katsora of Homel went to law demanding decision of the UN Commission on Human Rights on reopening the regional non-governmental organisation “Civil Initiatives” to be fulfilled.
05.11.2008 Father of killed soldier applies to UN
Dweller of Krychau town Alexander Shamryn sent a complaint to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights to defend interest of his family in a dispute with the state.
24.10.2008 Amnesty International representative attempts to meet with heads of law-enforcement ministries
Official representative of the human rights organization Amnesty International Heather McGill will visit Belarus. During the visit she plans to carry out a number of meetings with staff of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Justice, the Supreme Court, and other bodies.
22.10.2008 US won’t lift sanctions against Lukashenka’s regime
The US will alleviate sanctions against Belarus only if the authorities would take further steps for improvement the situation with human rights and development of the civil society. It has been stated by David Merkel, Deputy Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs at the U.S. Department of State, in an interview to Reuters, BelaPAN informs.
06.08.2008 Committee to Protect Journalists urges President Lukashenka to reconsider repressive media law
The Committee to Protect Journalists is troubled to learn that President Alexander Lukashenko has signed a restrictive new media law, which, according to CPJ research, will allow authorities to further restrict press freedom in Belarus.
11.07.2008 Human Rights Watch calls Prosecutor General to drop charges against Andrei Kim
Human Rights Watch is an international, nonpartisan, nongovernmental human rights organization with offices around the world, including New York, London, Berlin, Geneva, Brussels, Moscow, and Tashkent. Its Europe and Central Asia division has monitored and urged compliance with the human rights provisions of the 1975 Helsinki Accords in signatory countries and with international human rights law since the organization was formed in 1978. We are writing to express our profound concern about the recent arrests and disproportionate sentences of 10 youth activists for participating in a peaceful, but unsanctioned, protest on January 10, 2008. We are especially concerned about Andrei Kim, who is among these ten and who was arrested at a subsequent peaceful protest on January 21. He was charged with violations related to both protests and received a disproportionately harsh sentence for offences based on what we believe to be political reasons.
10.07.2008 Brest: Yury Bakur complains to UN Human Rights Committee
Mr. Bakur decided to apply to the UN Human Rights Committee after going through all court instances of Belarus with complaints against the verdict of Maskouski district court of Brest, by which he had been fined 93 000 rubles (about $43).
10.07.2008 Belarusian Helsinki Committee becomes a partner of the Council of Europe
On 10 July the office of the Belarusian Helsinki Committee received the information that the Council of Europe has granted to it the status of a partner, thereby acknowledging the working relations which have been established between it and BHC.
08.07.2008 ‘Reporters Without Borders’ oppose adoption of new law ‘On mass media’
The international organization Reporters Without Borders has once again expressed its concern related to adoption of the new law On Mass Media in Belarus, which is to be signed into law by Alexander Lukashenka.
08.05.2008 Reporters Without Borders stands for Hazeta Slonimskaya
Reporters Without Borders condemns an eviction order and other efforts by local authorities to harass the weekly Hazeta Slonimskaya, the only independent newspaper in the western region of Hrodna. Its editor, Uladzimir Valadashchuk, appealed to readers for support on 30 April.
07.04.2008 Swedish Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights' Open Letter to Lukashenka
Dear Mr. President, We would like to express our serious concern regarding the trial agaisnt Ms Katsiaryna Salauyova, that is to be held on 8 April in Polatsk.
04.04.2008 Amnesty International: Demonstrators beaten during Freedom Day march
Amnesty International condemns the reportedly excessive use of force by Belarusian security forces against demonstrators who had gathered in the capital, Minsk, on 25 March 2008. Up to two thousand people had gathered in a square in the centre of the city to mark the ninetieth anniversary of the short-lived independence of Belarus in 1918, which is now referred to by the political opposition as Freedom Day. The authorities had not sanctioned the demonstration and President Alexander Lukashenka’s government had vowed to prevent any public action to mark the occasion.
