05.07.2018 Human Rights Situation in Belarus: June 2018
In early June, representatives of opposition political parties and NGOs started picketing a restaurant located next to the grave of the victims of Soviet repression of 1930s-40s, popularly known as Kurapaty. According to the protesters, the construction of the eating-house was accompanied by legal violations, while the choice of the place itself was inappropriate.
05.06.2018 Human Rights Situation in Belarus: May 2018
On May 20, the website of the Ministry of Internal Affairs published an article with homophobic content entitled “We Are For True Things”, in which the Interior Ministry spoke against LGBTQ+ people and the rainbow flag flown on the British Embassy’s building in Minsk to mark the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia, May 17. The article called the minority “fake”.
03.05.2018 Human Rights Situation in Belarus: April 2018
At the 63rd session of the UN Committee against Torture, the official delegation of Belarus submitted its periodic report within the fifth cycle. An alternative report was presented by Belarusian human rights activists.
03.04.2018 Human Rights Situation in Belarus: March 2018
Despite the Minsk city executive committee’s permission to hold a rally and concert in the capital on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the proclamation of the BNR independence, the city authorities banned a march organized by a number of opposition politicians.
01.03.2018 Human Rights Situation in Belarus: February 2018
On February 18, members of local councils were elected in Belarus. The elections, which were extremely passive, prompted criticism from the political opposition and non-partisan domestic observation.
01.02.2018 Human Rights Situation in Belarus: January 2018
The Ministry of Information ordered to restrict access to the information resource Charter-97 (www.charter97.org) citing ‘prohibited content’ allegedly posted on the critical website. The fact caused criticism from the country's independent journalistic community and human rights defenders.
17.01.2018 Human Rights Situation in Belarus: 2017. Analytical Review
The year was marked by a significant deterioration in the overall situation of human rights in the country as compared to the previous period of so-called ‘soft practices’, which began in August 2015 and ended with the start of mass protests in February 2017; the latter were in many ways provoked by the use of Presidential Decree number 3.
05.01.2018 Human Rights Situation in Belarus: December 2017
December was not marked by any significant systemic changes in the field of human rights.
04.12.2017 Human Rights Situation in Belarus: November 2017
In November, the government continued to use repressive practices against political opponents and civil society activists; there were no significant systemic changes in the field of human rights.
02.11.2017 Human Rights Situation in Belarus: October 2017
The widely announced changes in the Law "On Mass Events" and the introduction of the notification-based principle of some static types of events (pickets, meetings, rallies) in a limited number of locations authorized by local executive bodies will not significantly improve the situation with the implementation of the freedom of peaceful assembly.
03.10.2017 Human Rights Situation in Belarus: September 2017
On 12 and 25 September, the Ministry of Justice recertified (including in several instances outside schedule) a number of defense lawyers. The country’s human rights community regarded the move as a blatant interference of government bodies in the activities of the Bar.
04.09.2017 Human Rights Situation in Belarus: August 2017
In August, the authorities continued the policy of repression against civil society activists and the political opposition.
02.08.2017 Human Rights Situation in Belarus: July 2017
The government of Belarus still adheres to the policy of repression against civil society activists and members of the political opposition, which started in the spring of this year, while assumptions of its mitigation are still premature.
10.07.2017 Human Rights Situation in Belarus: June 2017
The closing of a series of criminal cases with clear political motives and the release of all the persons arrested on the eve of March 25, prompt cautious optimism, but do not testify to a change of the government’s policy in the field of protecting human rights as a whole and do not give grounds for claims of less repressive practices as an established trend.
05.06.2017 Human Rights Situation in Belarus: May 2017
The month was marked by a continued negative trend evidencing the deterioration of the overall human rights situation in the country.
