Andrey Yurov: “I cannot say that we have achieved brilliant success in Belarus”

Well-known Russian human rights activist Andrey Yurov, head of the International Observation Mission of the Committee on International Control over the Situation with Human Rights in Belarus, wrote a brief article in which he summarized the main results of 2011 and noted the important trends for the future of the human rights movement in the CIS countries.
Andrey Yurov names the situation in Belarus after the presidential election in December 2010 as a landmark. “There is still harassment of civic leaders, human rights activists and journalists, mass deportation of foreigners, including Russians, which has never been seen before,” says the human rights defender.
Andrey Yurov called the establishment of the Committee on International Control over the Human Rights Situation in Belarus as a successful step. “It’s a huge coalition of nongovernmental organizations around the world who chose to work in Belarus unless the human rights situation there improves. We have created this coalition with the intention of working for a long time, responsibly and professionally. This is the first serious challenge for the solidarity of civil society in the post-Soviet region. It seems to me that this very structure, including its separate parts – the rapporteur, the observation mission, a group of international advocacy – can be a unique model of how to act. At the same time, I cannot yet say that we have achieved brilliant success in Belarus”, noted the head of the Observation Mission of the Committee.
“Having observed the example of Belarus, we are now convinced that such major organizations as the UN and OSCE, which are designed to change situation of human rights for the better, have proven to be powerless. There are no effective international mechanisms, which could quickly remedy the situation”, stated Andrey Yurov.