23nd session of the
Human Rights Council
Item4
Human rights situations that require the Council’s attention: Belarus
By Yuri Dzlibladze
Thank you Mr. President,
CIVICUS and the Committee of International Control over the Human Rights Situation in Belarus, a coalition of more than 50 NGOs from different countries, welcome the report of the UN Special Rapporteur on the Human rights situation in Belarus. We believe it clearly reflects the situation on the ground and the main concerns of the international community.
As a result of our monitoring on the ground, we see that the human rights situation in Belarus has not only remained bad, but it has deteriorated further. Firstly, in the areas of freedoms of association, expression, and assembly as well as concerning the use of torture and ill-treatment in custody, enforced disappearances, impunity of perpetrators of human rights abuses, and violations of due process and fair trial safeguards.
We support references in the report to specific areas where comprehensive review of relevant legislation, policies, strategies and practices should be done on the basis of relevant UN documents containing recommendations on the human rights situation in Belarus that should serve as a framework for legislative and policy change.
We believe that a comprehensive reform of the justice sector should be a key demand in order to guarantee the independence of the judiciary and ensure fair trial guarantees. Without the independent courts, civic activists, journalists, defense lawyers and the opposition members will continue to be imprisoned on fabricated criminal charges.
We strongly believe that extension of the mandate of the Special Rapporteur is absolutely necessary; not only because no recommendations from last years resolution of the Council have been implemented but because his second term could be devoted to the development of a more focused analysis of existing legislative framework in Belarus, lack of its compliance with the UN human rights standards and obligations, and elaboration of concrete recommendations on how relevant legislation and practices should be changed to bring them in compliance with UN obligations. This “road map” of sorts would serve as a basis for dialogue with the Belarusian government and civil society and, equally important, would help to decide in the next year and possibly further on, whether progress in Belarus has been sufficient enough to terminate the mandate of the Special Rapporteur, or more work needs to be done and therefore the mandate needs to be extended further. This would put the discussion on the situation in Belarus firmly in the legal framework and allow the Council to avoid fruitless debate about politisation of its country-specific work.
