The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Belarus.
Brief description of the situation:
According to the information received, on December 6, 2007, at about 8.30 pm, two militiamen from local Lenin district of Minsk, accompanied by another two persons in civilian clothes, conducted a search without any warrant in the office of the BKDP. The policemen arrested several young BKDP activists who were present in the office, printing information about a meeting of entrepreneurs, and sealed or confiscated BKDP equipment and documents. The detainees were later released but were summoned to court for alleged "hooliganism".
The BKDP has for many years been fighting for trade union rights and freedoms, its members are regularly being harassed and discriminated and its leaders have repeatedly been arrested for their commitment to and defence of fundamental rights of workers and democracy.
The Observatory expresses its deepest concern about these events and recalls that as a Participating State of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Belarus must conform with paragraph 8 of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Resolution on Strengthening OSCE Engagement with Human Rights Defenders and National Human Rights Institutions1, which states that the OSCE Participating States recognise "the need for particular attention, support and protection for human rights defenders by the OSCE, its Institutions and field operations, as well as by participating States".
Actions requested:
The Observatory urges the authorities of Belarus to:
i.Guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of BKDP activists and all human rights defenders in Belarus;
ii.Drop all charges against the above-mentioned BKDP activists, as they seem to merely aim at sanctioning their human rights activities;
iii.Put an end to all acts of harassment, including at the judicial level, against all BKDP activists as well as against all human rights defenders in Belarus;
iv.Ensure in all circumstances that they be able to carry out their work without unjustified hindrances;
v.Comply with all the provisions of the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, in particular with Article 1, which provides that "everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, to promote and to strive for the protection and realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international levels", Article 6.b, which provides that "everyone has the right, individually and in association with others [...] freely to publish, impart or disseminate to others views, information and knowledge on all human rights and fundamental freedoms", as well as with Article 12.2, which states that "the State shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually and in association with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the present Declaration";
vi.Comply with the provisions of the Document of the Copenhagen Meeting of the 2nd Conference on the Human Dimension of the Cooperation and Security Conference in Europe (CSCE) (1990), and uphold in all circumstances the principles and provisions enshrined in the international and regional human rights instruments ratified by Belarus and which, in particular, guarantee freedoms of association, demonstration, expression and opinion, in particular the European Convention on Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights;
vii.More generally, ensure in all circumstances the respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in accordance with in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and with international and regional human rights instruments ratified by Belarus.
Addresses:
– President Alyaksandr Lukashenka, ul .Karla Marksa, 38, 220016 Minsk, Belarus, Fax: + 375 172 26 06 10 or + 375 172 22 38 72, Email: infogrp@president.gov.by
– General Prosecutor, Petr Miklashevich, Internatsionalnaya str. 22, 220050 Minsk, Belarus, Fax: + 375 17 226 42 52
– Permanent Mission of Belarus to the United Nations in Geneva, 15 avenue de la paix, 1211 Geneva 20, Switzerland, Fax: +41 22 748 24 51. Email: mission.belarus@ties.itu.int
– Embassy of Belarus in Brussels, 192 avenue Molière, 100 Ixelles, Belgium, Fax : + 32 2.340.02.87, Email : embbel@skynet.be
Please also write to the diplomatic mission or embassy of Belarus in your respective country.
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Geneva-Paris, December 12, 2007
Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.
The Observatory, a FIDH and OMCT venture, is dedicated to the protection of Human Rights Defenders and aims to offer them concrete support in their time of need. The Observatory was the winner of the 1998 Human Rights Prize of the French Republic.
To contact the Observatory, call the emergency line:
E-mail: Appeals@fidh-omct.org
Tel and fax FIDH + 33 (0) 1 43 55 20 11 / +33 1 43 55 18 80
Tel and fax OMCT + 41 (0) 22 809 49 39 / + 41 22 809 49 29
BLR 001 / 1207 / OBS 163
Search / Arbitrary arrests /
Judicial proceedings
Belarus
December 12, 2007