First appeal against forced dactylography filed with UN Human Rights Committee
On 10 January Vasil Paliakou, head of the Homel
regional branch of the United Civil Party, filed an individual communication
with the UN Human Rights Committee concerning violation of Article 14 and 26 of
the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights by the Republic of
Belarus by forced dactylography.
Mr. Paliakou had been fined by the Savetski District Court of Homel for
insubordination to the “lawful demand” of the police officer who had forced him
to give his fingerprints. After his appeals against the fine were turned down
by the Homel Regional Court
and the Supreme Court, Vasil Paliakou applied to the UN.
In his communication he writes why forced dactylography violates his rights:
“Due to the existence of such provision in the national legislation of Belarus I was
subject to adverse discrimination on the basis of my sex and year of
birth, prohibited under article
26 of the International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights.
By entering such selective approach into the national legislation, the Republic of Belarus has
violated the principle of equality of all citizens before the law, because
such personal characteristics as age
and sex were introduced as grounds for
adverse discrimination. As a result, a person is treated not
as an individual, but as a
representative group of people (citizens who are
liable for military service). When
I was summoned to the police station
to be fingerprinted, I refused, because
the police did not produce a single argument except the legal
requirement according to which I was obliged to undergo the
procedure of mandatory fingerprint
registration."
