Moscow Mechanism

VIENNA, 16 June 2011 – Emmanuel Decaux, OSCE Moscow Mechanism rapporteur, presented to the OSCE Permanent Council today his report about the human rights situation and implementation of OSCE commitments in Belarus since the December 2010 presidential election.

Source: http://www.osce.org/pc/78701

Read the text of report

OSCE Moscow Mechanism rapporteur begins fact-finding mission
regarding the post-election human rights situation in Belarus

VIENNA, May 9, 2011 – Emmanuel Decaux, Professor of International Law at the
University of Paris, began work on May 6 as the OSCE rapporteur for a mission to
examine the human rights situation and implementation of OSCE commitments in
Belarus following the December presidential election on December 19, 2010.

The process was launched on April 6, 2011, when 14 OSCE participating States
invoked the Organization’s “Moscow Mechanism”.

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Civil Society Organizations Welcome a New OSCE Initiative
on Human Rights in Belarus

11 April, 2011. Leading civil society organizations from Central and Eastern Europe and other countries of the OSCE region welcome launch of the OSCE Moscow Mechanism towards Belarus. An official letter sent by representatives of governments of 14 OSCE participating states to the representative of Belarus to the OSCE  says: ”Our view is that  a particularly serious threat to the fulfillment of the provisions of the OSCE human dimension has arisen in Belarus”. The authors of the letter insist on establishment, in accordance with the OSCE Moscow Mechanism, of a mission of independent observers to study the situation within the country after 19 December 2010. The mission would produce an independent and objective report based on facts, with recommendations and advice on improvement of the situation with observation of OSCE commitments by Belarus.
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Letter by the 14 OSCE participating states
to the Belarus representative to the OSCE
in connection with
initiation of the Moscow Mechanism of the OSCE against Belarus

Vienna, 6 April 2011

Ambassador Alyaksandr Sychov
Head of the Delegation of Belarus to the OSCE
Huttelbergstrasse 6
1140 Vienna

Ambassador Sychov,

We thank you and your government for the information you have provided in the Permanent Council over the past few months regarding the demonstrations which took place in Belarus on 19 December and developments since then. The Permanent Council has had a several detailed exchanges on view on this. These have revealed conflicting views on the extent to which Belarus has implemented its human dimension commitments during this period, for example in respect of freedom of assembly and association, freedom of expression and the rule of law. Unfortunately, since 31 December 2010 on-the-ground monitoring capacity has been severaly curtailed.
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Appeal to the Organization for Security and Cooperation
in Europe Participating States
on the need to take urgent measures in connection
with the crisis with human rights and fundamental freedoms
in the Republic of Belarus

10 January 2011


We, representatives of civil society organizations and citizens of participating states of the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE):

• Expressing our concern over credible reports of serious and widespread violations of human rights and civil liberties in Belarus after the presidential elections on December 19, 2010;

• Taking special note of the gross violations of the prohibition on inhuman treatment and torture during arrest and while being held in custody; violations of the right to due process and fair trial during investigation and court proceedings; intimidation during searches and interrogation, as well as at work and school; pressure on journalists and lawyers, as well as family members of the detained; and the confiscation of computers to paralyze the activities of nongovernmental organizations, human rights defenders and civil society activists;
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News of Belarus

Belarus prisoner release: Same old trick

Submitted by admin on Sun, 08/23/2015 - 21:00

Good news from Belarus is rare, but last weekend president Alexander Lukashenko pardoned six political prisoners.

For the pardoned, all serving multi-year prison terms for challenging Belarus’ autocracy, this is, to say the least, a relief, and has been welcomed by local democrats and the international community.

Lukashenko has declared his decision an act of “humanity”. But is, in fact, a carefully timed tactical move to sway the European Union at a time of growing domestic and geopolitical pressure.

The question is whether he will succeed this time.

The International Day of Solidarity with Belarus 2015

Submitted by admin on Mon, 08/17/2015 - 13:49

Seven countries around the world celebrated the International Day of Solidarity with Belarus on August the 4th. Human and civil rights activists, as well as other people who are simply sympathetic with the citizens of Belarus and who share deep concern about their future, took part in online discussions, talked to people on the streets and posted various material in social media in order to raise awareness of countless violations of human rights in Belarus.

Solidarity with civil society in Belarus

Submitted by admin on Mon, 08/03/2015 - 21:00

4 August is an international day of solidarity with the civil society of Belarus. This day matters, because of the daily pressure against civil society in Belarus.

When a coalition of international civil society organisations, at the initiative of the International Youth Human Rights Movement of Voronezh (Russian Federation), launched the idea of an international solidarity day with civil society in Belarus, the country was coming out of the 2010 presidential election cycle, which symbolically ended with the arrest of the country’s leading human rights defender Ales Bialiatski.

The 4 August is key to Belarus, because of Ales Bialiatski’s arrest on this day in 2011. The day is now a symbol of President Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s repeated practice of arbitrary arrest of voices criticising his way of governing the country.