It was created on the anniversary of a referendum held in 1996 and declared: "devotion to the principles of independence, freedom and democracy, respect to the human rights, solidarity with everybody, who stands for elimination of dictatorial regime and restoration of democracy in Belarus".Belarusian journalist Pavał Šaramiet acted as the group's spokesman at the declaration's public launch.

The site's editor-in-chief, Natallia Radzina, received the 2011 International Press Freedom Award, "an annual recognition of courageous journalism", for her work.

In the weeks following the disputed December 2010 presidential election – in which pro-democracy candidate Andrej Sańnikaŭ lost to Lukashenko, often called "Europe's last dictator"[3] – a number of opposition protesters took to the streets, alleging fraud.

[5] In 2020, the logo was changed to display "Charter'97%", referencing the fact that according to opposition groups, internet polling shows that support for President Lukashenko is low enough to be a statistical error, or around 3%.

[7] Earlier in 2021-2022, the Telegram channel, logo, website and pages of the Charter on social networks were included in the list of extremist materials.