‘Torture, climate of fear, silencing victims’: 37 OSCE participating states issue statement on situation in Belarus
On May 20, René Dinesen, Permanent Representative of Denmark to the OSCE, delivered the joint statement on the human rights situation in Belarus on behalf of 37 OSCE participating states.
He made mention of the OSCE Moscow Mechanism that was invoked in wake of the 2020 presidential election in Belarus. As reported earlier, Rapporteur Professor Wolfgang Benedek concluded in his report under the Mechanism that there was overwhelming evidence the election on 9 August was fraudulent, and the Belarusian security forces committed massive and systematic violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms.
According to the top official, the same systemic violations and abuses persist unabated seven months after Benedek’s evidence-based account. The number of political prisoners and detainees is rising, members of the free media are being particularly targeted; Belarus has not investigated any of the well-documented crimes by the authorities, he stressed.
“We note with particular worry that human rights organisations have reported numerous credible allegations of abhorrent treatment of prisoners, including torture. This seems to reflect a deliberate decision by the authorities to create a climate of fear, with the aim of silencing victims and witnesses,” the statement reads.
In the document, the signers highlight that the belarusian authorities continue to repress those who have taken part in peaceful protests by ‘increasingly using newly broadened legislation which allows the authorities to criminalize any form of dissent’. They categorically and explicitly reject the supposition that such dissent amounts to ‘extremism’.
Based on the recommendation of Professor Benedek’s report and taking into account the current situation, the above mentioned participating states repeat their questions to Belarus:
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when will the Belarusian authorities investigate the credible reports of massive human rights violations and abuses, including allegations of torture, ill-treatment, sexual violence, disappearance and killing by security forces?
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when will the Belarusian authorities bring criminal charges against those responsible for the human rights violations and abuses, including Belarusian security officials?
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when will the Belarusian authorities provide protection for the victims and witnesses who have bravely come forward and reported their accounts of human rights violations and abuses?
The statement was signed by Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Montenegro, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, the United States.
