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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Belarus after Election: Report on the human rights situation in Belarus in the post-election period
This report has been prepared by Viasna HRC to assist the expert mission established under the OSCE Moscow Mechanism in establishing facts of human rights violations in Belarus during the post-election period.
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Sentencing and release of Ms. Liudmila Kazak
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a partnership of FIDH and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), has received new information and requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Belarus.
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Arbitrary arrest and judicial harassment of human rights lawyer Ms. Liudmila Kazak
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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Arbitrary arrest and judicial harassment of Viasna member Marfa Rabkova
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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FIDH and its member organisation ADC Memorial urge the Belarus authorities to stop the harassment of women’s rights center "Her Rights"
In the context of the post-electoral repression in Belarus, the government has launched a smear campaign against Women’s Rights Center "Her Rights" and its founder Sacha Dikan, while her husband Viktor Kuvshinov was arrested on bogus charges of "theft through abuse of official capacity".
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Webinar: Belarus - Torture and impunity policies, the response of the UN Human Rights Council
The webinar was live on September 17, 2020.
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Valiantsin Stefanovic: "Today we acknowledge a deep crisis of human rights in Belarus"
On 4 September 2020, Valiantsin Stefanovic, Vice-President of the FIDH and Vice-Chairman of Viasna, a Minsk-based Human Rights Center, spoke at the United Nations Security Council Arria-Formula Meeting on Human Rights in Belarus.
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A Strong International Reaction is Needed to Prevent Further Violence Against Civil Society
On August 26, human rights organisations adressed an open letter, calling on the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) to urgently convene a Special Session to address the Belarus government’s crackdown on peaceful demonstrators and other ongoing, widespread violations of human rights, including arbitrary arrests, prosecutions under trumped-up charges, and torture and other ill-treatment, in relation to the 2020 presidential elections.
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Human Rights NGOs Call for an End to Torture and Arbitrary Arrests of Peaceful Protesters
On August 24, FIDH, The Human Rights Center “Viasna”, the Belarus Helsinki Committee (BHC) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) wrote an open letter to the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture about the widespread torture and arbitrary arrest of peaceful protesters in Belarus (9 to 14 August 2020)
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Judicial Harassment of Mr. Aliaksandr Burakou
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a partnership of FIDH and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), has received new information and requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Belarus.