Brest activists of United Civil Party intend to hold pickets against "decree on parasites"

Local activists of the United Civil Party have appealed to the Brest City Executive Committee with the request to authorize ten pickets. They intend to conduct the events in various suburbs of Brest in order to express their conviction about the inadmissibility of the introduction of forced labor in Belarus, provided by Decree No. 3 for April 2, 2015.

"Forced labor can not be imposed on Belarusian citizens”, said one of the applicants for holding the mass events, Uladzimir Vuyek. “Our aim is to remind the country's leadership about it and receive public support in this issue”.

Another picket organizer, head of the Brest regional organization of UCP Dyiana Kastsiukovich, noted that the issue of forced labor needs to be raised for a maximally wide public discussion. “With every coming year, the laws in our country became less humane, and violate more and more the fundamental human rights, which are enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus,” said the activist. “The right to work is a basic right, not a duty, and representatives of the state authorities should treat it with respect."

The activists plan to hold five pickets in the places that have been designated for mass events by the authorities – at the stadium “Locomotive”and in the park of Soldiers-internationalists; and five others – in the city center and in the suburb “Uschod”. In their applications the UCP activists refer to Article 35 of the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus, Article 21 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Article 4-6 of the Law "On mass events in Belarus."