THE OSCE CHALLENGED - NHC/IHF

PART V: NEW CHALLENGES AND NEW THREATS FOR THE OSCE
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ms. tatsiana pratsko (belarusian helsinki committee):
“We are desperately looking for help”

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The Belarusian Helsinki Committee may be closed down by the authorities next Spring, says Ms. Tatsiana Pratsko, as everybody whose opinion doesn’t reflect the President’s may be persecuted. In Belarus, the rule of law is subordinate to the will of President Lukashenko, according to her. She offers many examples of human rights violations, for instance in the fields of freedom of expression, election procedures and the judiciary. In the past, the Belarus government has simply ignored resolutions of the UN Commission on Human Rights.
In view of the forthcoming Parliamentary elections, Ms. Pratsko calls for the OSCE-participating states to demand that Belarus conforms with previously formulated OSCE election reform proposals.
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“Human rights monitoring in Belarus has been under observation of the OSCE since 1996. Since then, the Belarusian Helsinki Committee conducts monitoring of the compliance of the Belarus government’s responsibilities towards the OSCE. Thanks to the work of our organization and of the International Helsinki Federation, correct and interesting decisions were taken. But none of them were fulfilled, not even partly.
Nowadays the human rights situation in Belarus is most tense. There is no rule of law, in the sense that:

Presidential Edicts and Decrees take precedence above regular legislation;
Parliament and parliamentarians are deprived of their elementary rights; for example, after having being invited by the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, the Belarus representative, Mr. S. Skrebec gave a speech in Rotterdam. As a consequence, his salary was withheld. The official reason given was his ‘absence from work’;
at least twenty newspaper were closed down last year;
some opposition publications were fined ten thousands of dollars, as was case with the newspaper ‘People’s Will’, in November 2003.

The situation in Belarus differs from Georgia’s, where independent radio and TV still exist. Belarus citizens are not able to speak freely on state-run mass media. For example, during a television discussion between the Russian politician Mr. Tchubais with the Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, only five of 26 applicants were admitted to the studio, a few minutes before the discussion was broadcast, and even these five were denied the possibility to express their opinion.
Independent courts don’t exist in the country, for example there is no mechanism that can be relied on after the rights are infringed upon, as the judiciary courts have become an additional repressive mechanism in the hands of the authorities. Violations of rights, recorded by Belarus observers during last Spring’s local council elections, show that the election process didn’t correspond to OSCE standards.
Up to now, there are no changes regarding inquiries on disappeared politicians. Fear and mistrust are present all the time.
Everything that has been said today about Russia may be applied to Belarus, only instead of ‘Yukos’ one should say ‘Euroopt’, etcetera.

The international community is rather well informed about the situation in Belarus. In April 2004, the UN Commission on Human Rights will examine it once again. Last year, this Commission passed a resolution, which was a rather firm one for such an institution. However, the Belarus government stated that none of the Commission’s decisions are binding, and no measures were taken.
The Belarusian Helsinki Committee repeatedly warned that impunity as regards human rights violations would result in the spreading of President Lukashenko’s negative influence to other countries. Daily, one can observe Mr. Putin, for example, behaving more and more like the Belarus leader does.

This is why I would like to draw your attention to an approach that would provide the implementation of decisions made by international organizations. I would like to recall here four OSCE conditions, proposed already in 2000, on the eve of parliamentary elections:

introducing amendments to the election legislation;
giving the opposition access to state-run mass media;
elimination of the atmosphere of fear and creation of conditions for mutual trust;
enforcing the Belarus parliament with essential power.

These conditions were made on the basis of the OSCE Copenhagen document . And even today they are topical.
The Belarus election legislation doesn’t even correspond to the standards developed in the Commonwealth of Independent States (?) and in Russia. The latter is even more dangerous, through reinforcement of integration processes between Russia and Belarus. I want to stress that all the strata of Belarus society are aware of the fact that a referendum or elections, conducted within the frameworks of the Union of Belarus and Russia, should not be considered valid if no amendments are introduced into Belarus legislation and the electoral process. This means that development of integration between Russia and Belarus already now presents a possible focus of tension in the centre of Europe.

I would like to draw your attention to the fact that everybody in Belarus whose opinion doesn’t reflect the President’s may be persecuted. This especially concerns human rights defenders. Two human rights organizations were closed down. The government plans to close down the Belarusian Helsinki Committee next Spring. Authorities mention this almost officially, and the state television is spreading huge lies, such as that I got 900.000 dollars through the TACIS Program (?), and that nobody knows where this money has gone.
We are desperately looking for your help. But the best support would be the fulfilling of the four OSCE conditions.

Either in October (in accordance with the law), or in next Spring (which is possibly in accordance with the President’s desire), Parliamentary elections will take place in Belarus. Elections are the only peaceful means of altering the current situation—towards democracy, without armed struggle and bloodshed.

This is why I suggest, on behalf of our forum, that we address the OSCE countries with a request to demand that Belarus fulfil those four conditions. This would be very good for Belarus and for democracy.”

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