UN Special Rapporteur lists catalogue of rights breaches
in Belarus
GENEVA (28 October 2016) – Hopes of an improving human
rights picture in Belarus have been dashed, according to a new report from the
UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in the country, Miklós
Haraszti.
He listed a catalogue of issues including government
control of recent elections, a vote count which was “neither honest nor
transparent,” the lack of a free press, the suppression of people’s freedom to
meet, and the jailing of a political blogger.
“Unfortunately I have to report an unchanged legal and
administrative system of the restriction of human rights, which by its mere
existence cannot be conducive to meaningful elections,” Mr. Haraszti told the
UN General Assembly as he presented his annual report*. “In a nutshell, nothing
has changed in Belarus on the human rights front.”
Elections for the presidency last October and parliament
in September had been carefully scrutinized by the human rights community for
signs of progress, he said, but hope had been refuted by reality.
“The release of political prisoners on the eve of the
presidential election, and the absence of violence during it, had raised hopes
of an improvement in the general human rights situation, and that the conduct
of the parliamentary elections would contribute to such a change,” he said.
“However, the nominal modifications made at the margins
of the electoral process did not affect the fully government-controlled
character of the elections,” the expert noted. “During the parliamentary
elections, there was no equal access to the media for the candidates, the
turnout was not verifiable, and the vote count was neither transparent nor
honest.”
The Special Rapporteur said the election of two “token”
opposition members of parliament had only underlined the “guided nature” of the
process.
“Belarus is far from breaking away from the standard of
the last two decades during which it has been the only nation in Europe with no
modicum of pluralism in its parliament,” he said.
Mr Haraszti said fundamental freedoms of expression and
of the media also continued to be violated.
Belarus was the only European country with no privately-owned nationwide
media, and the state media were used as a platform for candidates supported by
the Government.
He highlighted the case of Eduard Palchys, a political
blogger held from May to October 2016 “on made-up grounds, but in reality
because of the political views expressed in his blog”. His incarceration ended a short period during
which there were no political prisoners in Belarus.
People’s freedoms of association and assembly continued
to be violated, he reported. Any
gathering, political party or association needed State approval, and anyone
taking part in unauthorized activities was held to be breaking the law.
Mr Haraszti also highlighted the ongoing use of the death
sentence. “Belarus handed down a death sentence the day after the lifting of
most of the European Union sanctions against the country,” he noted.
Other concerns highlighted by the Special Rapporteur
included the fact that the Central Election Commission has had the same
chairperson for 20 years, and that the composition of all electoral bodies is
decided either by the president or by local state authorities.
(*) Check the Special Rapporteur’s report:
http://www.un.org/Docs/journal/asp/ws.asp?m=A/71/394
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
Mr. Alexandre Girard (+41 22 917 9180 / agirard@ohchr.org) or write to
sr-belarus@ohchr.org.
You can access this press release at:
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=20790&LangID=E
For media inquiries related to other UN independent
experts:
Xabier Celaya, UN Human Rights – Media Unit (+ 41 22 917
9383 / xcelaya@ohchr.org)
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