4 August – International Day of Solidarity with Civil Society of Belarus
Non-governmental
organizations around the world take part in the International Day of
Solidarity with Belarusian civil society for the second year already.
It is celebrated on 4 August, the anniversary of the detention of the
Belarusian human rights activist Ales Bialiatski.
The action
is intended to show solidarity with the civil society in Belarus and
moral support to human rights defenders and civil society activists
who continue to work in the country.
"We will celebrate
this day every year, until the situation of the civil society in
Belarus changes so that people won't be imprisoned for their human
rights activities and the fundamental freedoms: freedom of
expression, of assembly and of associations will be respected,"
says the Manifesto of the Day of Solidarity.
Last year, the
activities within the framework of the Solidarity Day were held in
more than 18 countries. This year, the organizers offer people around
the world to send postcards and letters with words of support to
Belarusian political prisoners, human rights defenders and activists
and publish materials and hold informational actions concerning the
situation in Belarus. According to the project coordinator Lada
Burdachova, this year such actions will take place in the United
States, Great Britain, Poland, Sweden, Germany, Lithuania, Russia,
Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, and some other countries.
A
detailed list of possible actions can be found here:
http://by.soli-day.org/node/8
The organizers offer people from
different countries to support the Solidarity Day by telling about
what is happening in Belarus on 4 August, and about the people who
offer an alternative to the present situation – Belarus without the
death penalty, no illegal detentions and militarized consciousness,
open to the outside world, with a wide space of freedom and
solidarity."
"We are convinced that the situation in
Belarus is a landmark not only for Europe and Central Asia, but also
for many other countries, where activists are harassed, and the
authorities feel uncontrollable and unpunished," state the
organizers of the action.
Ales Bialiatski, head of the Human
Rights Center "Viasna" was nominated for the Nobel Peace
Prize. He was arrested on 4 August 2011 and is currently serving a
prison sentence (4.5 years) for tax evasion. In fact, the means from
which Ales allegedly not paying taxes, was used for advocacy and
support to victims of political repression in Belarus.
According
to human rights organizations, there are 12 political prisoners in
Belarus nowadays. None of the recent elections in the country were
found to be free; Belarus is also accused of serious violations of
fundamental rights and freedoms of its citizens.
In the
international organizing committee of the action includes the
International Committee of the Control over the human rights
situation in Belarus, the Center for Civil Liberties (Ukraine), the
Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights (Poland), Moscow Helsinki Group
(Russia), International Youth Human Rights Movement, "Index on
Censorship" (Great Britain ) and Belarusian Human Rights House
(Lithuania).
More information about the campaign can be found
at the website (http://by.soli-day.org), as well as at the pages in
social networks:
Facebook -
http://www.facebook.com/groups/368867776513480/
VKontakte -
http://vk.com/bysoliday
