News on the topic: human rights
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.
30.03.2018 Belarus: Human rights defenders arrested
On 25 March 2018, six human rights defenders Maxim Kovalev, Tatyana Mastykina, Andrei Krechko, Anna Sakhankova, Anastasia Vasilchuk and Nasta Loiko, all members of The Human Rights Centre “Viasna” and the Belarusian Helsinki Committee, were arrested in Minsk near Yakub Kolas Square for observing a public event
22.03.2018 MEPs ‘alarmed’ by lack of ‘tangible progress’ in Belarus’ human rights record
“The situation with regard to basic human rights and democracy in Belarus is far from showing signs of any tangible progress and change,” a group of MEPs said in a letter to Federica Mogherini, Vice-President of the European Commission and High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, and Johannes Hahn, European Commissioner for Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations.
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.
22.02.2018 Amnesty International releases annual report
Over the past year, leaders have pushed hate, fought against rights, ignored crimes against humanity, and blithely let inequality and suffering spin out of control. This provoked mass protests, showing that while our challenges may never be greater, the will to fight back is just as strong. Amnesty International’s report, The State of the World’s Human Rights 2017/18, covers 159 countries and delivers the most comprehensive analysis of the state of human rights in the world today.
05.02.2018 Miklós Haraszti: International scrutiny of the situation in Belarus has to be continued
The last report of the UN Special Rapporteur on Belarus will stress the need of renewing the country mandate, Miklós Haraszti said during a meeting with Belarusian and international human rights activists, which took place at the Belarusian Human Rights House in Vilnius on January 31.
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.
18.01.2018 Belarus remains among "not free" countries in Freedom House’s report
Freedom House, a Washington-based international non-governmental organization, has ranked Belarus "not free" in its Freedom in the World Survey 2018.
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.
17.11.2017 Arbitrary detention and false prosecution of political opponents continue, UN expert says
The recent arrests and detention of two political opponents on fabricated grounds is another demonstration of the cyclical system of oppression in Belarus, according to Miklós Haraszti, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Belarus.
14.11.2017 Eastern Partnership Summit: Azerbaijan and Belarus leaders should be pushed towards democratization
Dozens of leading international and national human rights organizations, including two Belarusian groups, have called on EU leaders to raise the issue of human rights violations in Azerbaijan during the upcoming Eastern Partnership Summit, which will be held on November 24 in Brussels.
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.
