CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANISATIONS CALL FOR THE IMMEDIATE OPERATIONALISATION OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL’S NEW MANDATE ON BELARUS
Statement by Belarusian and International Human Rights Organisations
24 March 2021
We, the 64 undersigned Belarusian and international human rights organisations, welcome the resolution passed by the UN Human Rights Council mandating the High Commissioner to create a new robust monitoring and reporting mandate focused on accountability for human rights violations in Belarus that have taken place since 1 May 2020. In so doing, the Council demonstrated its determination to hold Belarusian authorities to account. This mandate needs immediate action. We urge the international community to support this critical next step.
The establishment of the High Commissioner’s new mandate is a response to the serious and escalating human rights violations taking place in Belarus and surrounding the August 2020 presidential elections. The mandate should provide a complementary and expert international mechanism to regional accountability processes already under way. Furthermore, it should assist in the identification of those responsible for the most serious violations for future prosecution.
With the mounting human rights crisis in Belarus, the Council’s action today is timely. It will require ongoing assistance and systematic follow-up by Human Rights Council members and the Office of the High Commissioner. In order for this new accountability mandate to meaningfully and substantively address the human rights crisis in Belarus, it is critical that the Office of the High Commissioner receives the assistance it will need to:
- Ensure that this new mandate is sufficiently funded.
- Appoint credible international experts with sufficient experience and expertise, including in international criminal law to fully and completely examine all alleged human rights violations committed in Belarus since 1 May 2020.
- Operationalise the mandate with the requisite investigators, forensic experts, gender specialists, and legal analysts.
- Provide a sufficient operational window for the mandate.
- Report immediately and publicly to the Council on non-cooperation by the Belarusian authorities in the accountability mandate’s work.
- Commit to sharing advanced copies of its interim oral report and comprehensive written report with Belarusian, regional, and international civil society in the same manner and at the same time it is shared with member States and Belarusian authorities.
This is an important moment for the United Nations. The Belarusian people demand accountability for past and on-going human rights violations. Member States and the Office of the High Commissioner must ensure that this new mandate meets these demands.
Signatories:
Agir ensemble pour les droits humains, France
Amnesty International, International
ARTICLE 19, United Kingdom
Assoiation UMDPL, member of Educational Human Rights House Chernihiv, Ukraine
B.a.B.e. Budi aktivna.Budi emancipiran., member of Human Rights House Zagreb, Croatia
Barys Zvozskau Belarusian Human Rights House, Belarus
Belarusian Helsinki Committee, member of Barys Zvozskau Belarusian Human Rights House, Belarus
Bir Duino Kyrgyzstan /FIDH, Kyrgyzstan
CCE “Almenda”, member of Human Rights House Crimea, Ukraine
Center for Civil Liberties, Ukraine
Centre for Peace Studies, member of Human Rights House Zagreb, Croatia
Centre for the Development of Democracy and Human Rights , Russian Federation
CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation, South Africa
Civil Society and Freedom of Speech Initiative Center for the Caucasus, Russian Federation
CROSOL – Croatian Platform for International Citizen Solidarity, member of Human Rights House Zagreb, Croatia
DefendDefenders (East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project), Uganda
DRA (Deutsch-Russischer Austausch), Germany
ECPM (Together Against the Death Penalty), France
Educational Human Rights House – Chernihiv, Ukraine
Election Monitoring and Democracy Studies Center, member of Human Rights House Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan
FIDH, France
Foundation of Regional Initiatives, Ukraine
Georgian Centre for Psychosocial and Medical Rehabilitation of Torture Victims – GCRT, member of Human Rights House Tbilisi, Georgia
Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Vanadzor, Armenia
Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, Poland
Human Rights Center of Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan
Human Rights House Foundation, International
Human Rights House Yerevan, member of Human Rights House Yerevan, Armenia
Human Rights House Zagreb, Croatia
Human Rights Monitoring Institute, Lithuania
Human Rights Watch, International
humanrights.ch, Switzerland
International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI), International
International Centre for civil initiatives “Our House”, Belarus
International Service for Human Rights (ISHR), Switzerland
Kharkiv Regional Foundation “Public Alternative”, Ukraine
La Strada International, Netherlands
Law Society of England and Wales, United Kingdom
Legal Initiative, member of Barys Zvozskau Belarusian Human Rights House, Belarus
Legal policy research centre, Kazakhstan
Libereco – Partnership for Human Rights, Germany
Media Institute, member of Human Rights House Tbilisi, Georgia
Mental Health and Human Rights Info, Norway
Netherlands Helsinki Committee, Netherlands
NGO MART, member of Educational Human Rights House Chernihiv, Ukraine
Norwegian Helsinki Committee, Norway
Paris Bar / Barreau de Paris, France
Pink human rights defender NGO, member of Human Rights House Yerevan, Armenia
Promo LEX, Moldova
Public Association “Dignity”, Kazakhstan
Public Verdict Foundation, Russian Federation
Rights Georgia, member of Human Rights House Tbilisi, Georgia
RSF, Reporters Without Borders, International
Russian Research Centre for Human Rights, Russian Federation
SAR Europe, Ireland
Southern Africa Human Rights Defenders Network, Southern Africa
Swedish OSCE-network, Sweden
UNITED for Intercultural Action, Hungary
Viasna Human Rights Centre, member of Baryz Zvozskau Belarusian Human Rights House, Belarus
Vietnam Committee on Human Rights (VCHR), France
Vostok SOS, member of Educational Human Rights House Chernihiv, Ukraine
Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, International
World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), Switzerland
ZMINA, member of Human Rights House Crimea, Ukraine
Photo credit: Pexels / Natallia Rak
