Mobilising for Justice
in Belarus
The ongoing political crisis in Belarus started in May 2020.
On 25 May 2021, Belarusian teenager Dzmitry Stakhouski jumped to his death from a 16-story building. He was facing criminal charges for participation in peaceful protests between 9-11 August 2020. In his suicide note, the 18-year-old wrote that "the Investigative Committee [main investigating authority in Belarus] is to blame." His story is emblematic of the mental and physical suffering the current regime has inflicted on the thousands of people who dared to speak out for a free and democratic Belarus.
Over the last year, numerous participants in the democratic movement have faced widespread and systematic repression from Aliaksandr Lukashenka’s long-standing authoritarian regime. Thousands of protesters have been detained and prosecuted, with hundreds ill-treated and tortured. Many politicians and leaders of the protest movement have been put behind bars or forced to leave Belarus. Many journalists, lawyers, and human rights activists have been attacked for doing their job. At the same time, not a single criminal case has been brought against those responsible for the violent crackdown, despite numerous reports of police brutality and misconduct.
FIDH, along with its member organisation in Belarus, Viasna Human Rights Center, has been closely monitoring the human rights situation in Belarus over the last year. This page provides detailed insight into the persisting human rights violations and repressions in Belarus.
Monitoring the human rights situation
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Monitoring Events & Reactions
A timeline of events and reactions at the international level dedicated to the human rights crisis in Belarus.
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Exposing Crimes & Furthering Justice
Belarus’ legal system and law enforcement, rather than protecting citizens, have become fearsome tools to repress human rights.
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Defending Human Rights Activists
After the crackdown on the political opposition, the Belarus authorities began to persecute human rights defenders.
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Reporting on Human Rights Violation in Belarus
Reporting on Different Types of Human Rights Violation in Belarus.
Latest
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FIDH and Viasna condemn new attacks on independent media threatening the liberty of expression in Belarus
Yesterday, law enforcement officials organised a widescale crackdown on in-dependent media in Belarus. Offices of at least five media outlets were raided and a number of their employees were detained.
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Documentary "We Have Not Lived in Vain": the protests in Belarus through the eyes of LGBTQ+ activists
In the film by Nick Antipov and Bart Staszewski, three participants of the Belarusian protests and representatives of the country’s LGBTQ+ community share their experiences, feelings, and aspirations.
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Mobilising for Justice in Belarus: FIDH Launches Website Tracking Systematic Human Rights Violations
Since May 2020, the administration of Aliaksandr Lukashenka, the de facto president of Belarus, has intensified repression, aiming to crush the country’s democratic movement.
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Joint Letter to Permanent Representatives of Member and Observer States of the UN Human Rights Council
In a joint statement, International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), along with 30 Belarusian and international human rights organisations, call on UN Human Rights Council member States to renew the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Belarus during the Council’s upcoming 47th session.
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Harassment and obstacles to freedom of association of ’Zyvano’
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a partnership of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and FIDH, requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Belarus.
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New laws will severely deteriorate human rights situation in Belarus
On 21 April, the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of Belarus approved three new laws further restricting freedoms of expression, association and assembly in the country. The laws on ‘countering extremism’, ‘rehabilitation of Nazism’ and ‘mass events’ previously passed at both first and second readings in the House of Representatives of the national Assembly almost without any discussion.
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Judicial harassment of six human rights defenders
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a partnership of FIDH and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Belarus.
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Politically Motivated Administrative Proceedings: Standards and Reality in Contemporary Belarus
This report by Viasna HRC summarises the observation of administrative proceedings in politically motivated cases from the beginning of 2020 to the end of March 2021.
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At least 422 detained during the Freedom Day protests
Lukashenka’s administration continues its crackdown on Belarusian civil society with new arbitrary detentions, as the protests regain momentum this spring. FIDH condemns in the strongest terms the violent dispersal of peaceful protesters on 25 and 27 March and urges the Belarus authorities to stop obstructing Belarus citizens’ exercise of their legitimate right of peaceful assembly.