Homel human rights defenders congratulate police on professional holiday and remind about rights of national minorities

Homel human rights defenders Maryia Klimovich and Ales Yauseyenka submitted another appeal to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Police Department of Homel Region Executive Committee. This one is dated to the Police Day, marked on 4 March.

The human rights defenders congratulate the police on their holiday and remind that a real policeman is a selfless man who struggles against evil, sometimes risking his life, and has no right to show a biased attitude towards citizens.

The human rights defenders remind that the Belarusian police had been established back in the days when internationalism was a part of the state policy. The duty of the police is to protect all law-abiding citizens from criminals, irrespective of nationality. A contemporary policeman must also remember the representatives of all nations and ethnic groups have equal rights in Belarus, including the Roma, about whom a considerable part of representatives of the titular nation allows insulting remarks.

"In fact, the Roma aren't a "nation of thieves and swindlers". They have their flag and anthem, civil organizations, websites and printed editions, musical collectives and national theater. The Roma have all reasons to be proud of professor Voldemar Kalinin, translator of classical poetry and Biblical texts Viktor Shapovalov, numerous poets and cultural workers. At the same time, it's worth noting that there are many under-educated people among representatives of the Romani diaspora. We have information about the cases when uneducated Roma received moral harm because duty officials didn't explain the legislation to them well enough," write the human rights defenders.

Ales Yauseyenka and Maryna Klimovich urge the police not to forget about the presumption of innocence: not every Roma has committed a crime, but almost of all of them have suffered from national discrimination.