This report aims to demonstrate the severity of the human rights crisis in Belarus with respect to human rights defenders and human rights organisations. It analyses and documents the repressive laws and policies that have been used by Belarusian authorities to target them, especially since the contested 2020 presidential election and the massive protests that ensued. The politics of mass repression, which amounts to international crime of persecution, has not ceased since the beginning of the crisis in 2020. Human rights defenders have been one of the most actively persecuted social groups since 2021. A wide range of tools are used to persecute human rights defenders in Belarus. These tools are deployed in the context of a concerted campaign by State bodies to ban and punish any independent human rights work. This report discusses the most commonly used tools for targeting human rights organisations and human rights defenders. Belarusian authorities adopt, amend and arbitrarily interpret national laws, while ignoring universal human rights standards and the recommendations of international human rights and accountability bodies.
This campaign of mass repression has effectively suppressed the right to defend human rights, making it impossible for defenders to engage in human rights work in Belarus without risking their life, liberty and security. In the last two years, repression has led to the destruction of institutionalised civil society in Belarus. All human rights organisations, independent media and trade unions have been shut down by the authorities, which consider their human rights activities extremist and as amounting to criminal offences. As at March 28, 2023, at least 82 human rights defenders, including members and employees of human rights organisations, trade unionists, lawyers and journalists, had been detained on fabricated charges. As many human rights activists have been placed in detention or forced to leave the country, the victims of human rights violations and vulnerable groups are struggling to receive much-needed professional help or to access the already limited remedies for human rights abuses. The report aims to highlight the systematic repression of human rights defenders in Belarus both before and after the 2020 protests, particularly through repressive legislation. It also makes recommendations to the governments of Belarus, other states and international organisations on how to restore and guarantee civic space and protect human rights defenders in Belarus.
Read the full report here.
