Belarus: Human rights situation deteriorates further – UN
expert warns in new report
GENEVA (24 June 2015) – The United Nations Special
Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Belarus, Miklós Haraszti, today
warned that the situation of human rights in the country has further
deteriorated since last year.
“Systematic violation of human rights, in particular
civil and political rights, continues,” the independent expert said during the
presentation of his latest report* to the UN Human Rights Council, in which he
describes how the general situation in Belarus for the past two decades has
been characterized by a systemic denial of human rights to citizens through an
intentional combination of restrictive laws and abusive practices.
“The findings of my report show that not only the
freedoms of expression, association and assembly were further restricted during
the last year,” Mr. Haraszti said. He also pointed out that labour rights
continue to be denied, and independent labour unions are suppressed: “The
rights to just and favourable work conditions and to the freedom to choose
one’s workplace have been further restricted by new legal provisions.”
The Special Rapporteur noted with concern that, ahead of
the October presidential elections, Belarus has not addressed the severe
limitations in all election-related rights. During past election periods, these
restrictions had led to recurring violence and mass retaliation against those
who protest the lack of their freedoms.
The independent expert welcomed the release one of the
political prisoners, Ales Bialatski, director of Viasna, a major human rights
organization in Belarus. He warned however, that the authorities have extended
sentences of several remaining political prisoners, using claims of their ‘bad
behaviour’ in prison, as in the case of 2010 presidential candidate Mikalai
Statkevitch, who recently was charged with violating prison rules and moved to
a harsher penitentiary institution.
Mr. Haraszti also urged the Belarusian authorities “not
only to release, but, for the sake of free and fair elections, also to fully
rehabilitate all political opponents who had been imprisoned.”
The Special Rapporteur cautioned that the restrictive
permission-based legal framework regulating the activities of civil society
organisations and of public events has remained unchanged. “Restrictions
increased in parallel to the arbitrary use of short-term and ‘preventive’
arrests against citizens who seek to exercise their rights nevertheless,” he
stated.
In that regard, he recalled the case of Elena Tonkacheva,
a human rights defender who was expelled from Belarus following administrative
charges for speeding; the case of activist Pavel Vinogradov, who was arrested
15 times in 2014; and the mass arrests of political activists before the World
Ice Hockey Championship held in Minsk in May 2014.
Mr. Haraszti also reported that the situation of the
media has deteriorated in the last year, with new curtailments especially on
freedom of the Internet. “Today in Belarus, almost a dozen authorities are
entitled to order the blocking of websites deemed to be ‘harmful for the
state’. Internet postings are regularly interpreted as proofs of ‘unauthorized
public events’, and are punished accordingly,” he noted.
In his report, the human rights expert also pointed to
the continued use of the death penalty. Belarus is the only country in Europe
that has the capital punishment; it has executed three inmates in 2014; and this
year has already brought new sentences. “I call upon Belarus to introduce an
immediate moratorium on the use of the death penalty with a view to its
permanent abolition,” he said.
The Special Rapporteur urged the Belarusian Government to
fully cooperate with the UN human rights mechanisms. He offered his good
services to work on improvements with the Government through a fully
participatory process with all civil society and the general public.
(*) Check the Special Rapporteur’s report on Belarus (A/HRC/29/43):
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/RegularSessions/Session29/Pages/ListReports.aspx
ENDS
Mr. Miklós Haraszti (Hungary) was designated as Special
Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Belarus by the UN Human Rights
Council in 2012. In the 70s, Mr. Haraszti was a founder of Hungary’s human
rights and free press movement, and in the 1990s he was a Member of the
Hungarian Parliament. From 2004 to 2010, he served as the OSCE Representative
on Freedom of the Media. Since 2010, he has been a Professor at several
universities teaching media democratisation. Learn more, log on to:
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/SP/CountriesMandates/BY/Pages/SRBelarus.aspx
The Special Rapporteurs are part of what is known as the
Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest
body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name
of the Council’s independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that
address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of
the world. Special Procedures’ experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not
UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent from
any government or organization and serve in their individual capacity.
UN Human Rights, country page – Belarus:
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/countries/ENACARegion/Pages/BYIndex.aspx
For more information and media requests please contact
Ms. Alexandra Swetzer (+41 22 917 9401 / aswetzer@ohchr.org) or write to
sr-belarus@ohchr.org.
For media inquiries related to other UN independent
experts:
Xabier Celaya, UN Human Rights – Media Unit (+ 41 22 917
9383 / xcelaya@ohchr.org)
UN Human Rights, follow us on social media:
Twitter: http://twitter.com/UNrightswire
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/UNOHCHR
Storify:
http://storify.com/UNrightswire
Nema komentara:
Objavi komentar