Homel Authorities Deny Registration to “Civic Alternative” NGO

The new regional NGO was founded by over 200 residents of Homel region. Most of the founders are members of the Civic Initiatives NGO closed down by the authorities.
RFE/RL reports, the regional Justice Department did not like the fact that the Civic Alternative plans to join international organizations and take up publishing activities. Another claim is about semantics of the words “humanitarian” and "humanistic".
The Department also claims, that failure to indicate the number of an office in the letter of guarantee for registration of the legal address, as well as inaccuracy in the date of birth of one of the NGO founders are serious violations.
It took the Justice Department 14 weeks to announce their decision regarding the NGO registration although the law allows only up to 4 weeks for that. Head of the newly-created association Uladzimir Katsora had to not only send an inquiry to the Justice Department, but also complain to the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Justice Ministry.
Meanwhile, the UN Committee for Human Rights entertained the complaint of the Civic Initiatives, closed down last year. The letter from Vienna informed the Initiatives chairperson Viktar Karniyenka, a copy of the complaint had been sent to the Belarusian government for evaluation, as it is required by the rules. The government has 6 months to reply to the UN Committee about the liquidated NGO.