Human rights situation in Belarus in 2024 Document

Summary:

• Authoritative international organizations have established gross violations of human rights and crimes against humanity committed by the Belarusian authorities.

• By the conclusion of 2024, the Viasna Human Rights Center has documented 6,550 individuals sentenced to various forms of penal sanctions due to their involvement in politically motivated cases. 1,380 of these individuals were female. In the past year, 1,721 individuals have been convicted, including 480 women.

• At the end of December 2024, Belarus had 1,265 political prisoners, including 168 women. Since the summer of 2020, the human rights community has identified 3,697 individuals as political prisoners, 680 of whom are women.

• Ales Bialiatski, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, is detained in a correctional facility.

• According to Viasna, at least 8,895 individuals experienced various forms of repression related to criminal or administrative prosecution during the previous year, including arrests, interrogations, and searches. A quarter of the repressed were women. The courts issued at least 5,890 administrative rulings.

• Political prisoners are subjected to particularly harsh conditions, stringent oversight, and restrictions that are not provided for by law. Consequently, many political prisoners are subjected to disciplinary deprivation of privileges such as care packages, including ones containing medicines, and visits from family members, spouses, and legal counsel. Furthermore, the correspondence of political prisoners is subject to arbitrary restriction. More than 10 political prisoners are held in incommunicado detention. Four political prisoners died in correctional facilities and remand prisons.

• Political prisoners are subjected to forced labor at low wages; upon their release after serving their sentences, ex-political prisoners are subjected to strict control beyond the routine supervision of released convicts; the rights of convicts are further restricted by the consequences of being included in the list of persons involved in extremist activities.

• In politically motivated administrative, criminal, and civil cases, the courts continue to function as an instrument of repression against the accused.

• The number of NGOs in Belarus is on the decline, and the activities of many associations are subject to arbitrary criminalization by the authorities.

• Under the guise of fighting terrorism and extremism and protecting national security interests, the persecution of peaceful expression continues.

• Repression against journalists, media workers, and bloggers has intensified.

• The Belarusian authorities continue to use torture and other ill-treatment against dissidents and members of the opposition; there have been no cases of investigation and prosecution at the national level of those responsible for widespread torture and other serious human rights violations in August 2020 and beyond.

• Discrimination persists in various areas, and the state does not take steps to prevent it.

• The campaign “Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections” presented an expert assessment of the elections for the House of Representatives of the National Assembly and the local councils of deputies, and is monitoring the presidential election scheduled for January 26, 2025.