Human rights in Belarus

CIS Member State Parliamentary elections The government of Belarus is criticized for its human rights violations and persecution of non-governmental organisations, independent journalists, national minorities, and opposition politicians.

[10] Dozens of Belarusian government officials responsible for political repressions, forced disappearances, propaganda, and electoral fraud have been subject to personal sanctions by the United States of America and the European Union.

According to Forum 18, textbooks widely used in Belarusian schools (as of 2002) contain anti-religious views similar to those taught in the USSR: Religion does not teach a believer to strive to lead a dignified life, to fight for his freedom or against evil and oppression.

However, Ahmadiyya Muslims (commonly regarded as a non-violent sect) are banned from practicing their faith openly in Belarus, and have a similar status to groups like Scientology and Aum Shinrikyo.

[34] The leader of the Belarusian Orthodox Church Metropolitan Paul was forced to resign after criticism of the police and authorities; his changer Veniamin was considered to be a much more comfortable figure for Lukashenko.

[54] In December 2010, Belarusian special security forces attacked demonstrators, beat and injured many activists with batons and arrested more than 600 people after a rally in central Minsk to protest the outcome of elections widely seen by Western observers as fraudulent.

In their joint statement, Hillary Clinton and Baroness Ashton called for the immediate release of the protesters (including at least seven opposition presidential candidates) and strongly condemned what they termed the "disproportionate" use of force against demonstrators.

A report dated 31 August 2005 from Amnesty USA claimed that, in addition to the Polish minority crisis earlier that year, three Georgians from the youth movement Kmara were detained while visiting Belarus.

[5] In July 2024, Belarus has freed five political prisoners, including opposition figure Rygor Kastusev, in a rare amnesty amidst continued repression since the disputed 2020 presidential election.

[60] Human rights activists accuse Belarusian authorities of imposing harsh conditions, such as public admissions of guilt, for releasing political prisoners, despite promises to free some detainees from the 2020 protests.

According to Amnesty International, human rights experts of the United Nations documented 450 evidences of torture, cruel treatment, humiliation, sexual abuse, restricted access to water, food, medical aid and hygiene products.

[66] In January 2021, an audio recording was released in which the commander of internal troops and deputy interior minister of Belarus Mikalai Karpiankou tells security forces that they can cripple, maim and kill protesters in order to make them understand their actions.

[76] It was reported that pro-Lukashenko journalist of state-owned Sovetskaya Belorussiya – Belarus' Segodnya newspaper Lyudmila Gladkaya interrogated the arrested people together with police officers in several confession videos.

[80] On 1 October 2021, general and member of the lower chamber of the Belarusian parliament Oleg Belokonev called to murder 20–100 opposition activists as a revenge for deaths of state security officials.

In 1999, in an extraordinary conference entitled "The Pernicious Consequences of International Projects of Sexual Education", members of the Belarusian Orthodox Church reportedly accused UNESCO, the United Nations, and the World Health Organization of encouraging "perversion", "satanic" practices (such as the use of condoms) and abortion.

"Sweden and other democratic governments of Europe must react to the harassment, persecution and international isolation of human beings.Several times the LGBT community were forbidden to hold pride parades in Belarus.

His view was echoed by a July 2005 report by the UCSJ that a personal aide of the President (a former Communist Party ideologue, Eduard Skobelev) had published anti-Semitic books and promoted guns to solve what he termed the "Jewish problem".

The offices of the Union of Poles were raided on 27 July 2005 in a crisis which came to the surface the previous day, when Andrzej Olborski (a Polish diplomat working in Minsk) was expelled from the country—the third such expulsion in three months.

Former police officer reported that Belarusian militsiya has informal rules for Romani people which include arbitrary check of documents, phone examination, house inspection without reason.

[149] One of the more notable examples of the Belarusian government's violation of human rights and international norms was the abduction, unlawful detainment and torture of American attorney Emanuel Zeltser[150] and his assistant, Vladlena Funk.

[153] They were transported to Amerikanka (the Stalin-era Belarusian KGB detention facility), where they were tortured, denied medication and told they would remain imprisoned indefinitely unless the U.S. lifted sanctions against Lukashenko.

[165] U.S. chargé d'affaires in Belarus Jonathan Moore commented after their release: "At no time have the Belarusian authorities ever provided any indication that the charges against Mr Zeltser and Ms Funk were legitimate.

Hanchar and Krasouski disappeared the same day of a broadcast on state television in which President Alexander Lukashenko ordered the chiefs of his security services to crack down on "opposition scum".

International observers recognized some progress during the September parliamentary elections, but called for additional reforms.Severe restrictions on the rights to freedom of expression, of association and of peaceful assembly remained in place.

The UN Special Rapporteur states that "Belarus does not respect its obligations under the international human rights instruments to which it has adhered" and reiterates his recommendation "that the Security Council should adopt appropriate measures to ensure the respect by the Republic of Belarus of its legal obligations, including: The Special Rapporteur stressed that "present trading relations with Belarus do not grant a better quality of life to Belarusian citizens, but allow President Lukashenko's regime to remain in power by systematically violating human rights and threatening international security" and recommended that "the European Union and the United States of America should maintain travel restrictions for Belarusian officials" and all other member states should adopt similar measures.

[179] In March 2006 the European Council imposed sanctions on Lukashenko and other members of the Belarusian government, having "deplored the failure of the Belarus authorities to meet OSCE commitments to democratic elections ... and condemned the action of the Belarus authorities ... in arresting peaceful demonstrators exercising their legitimate right of free assembly to protest at the conduct of the Presidential elections ..." On 10 April 2006, the Council adopted restrictive measures against Lukashenko, the Belarusian leadership and the officials responsible for the violations of international electoral standards and international human-rights law for the crackdown on civil society and democratic opposition, proposing a visa ban and possible further measures.

The European Union also expresses its concern about the denial of access of observers to the trial",[181] and in its 2009 Conclusions[182] it stated: "the Council deeply regrets the recent lack of significant progress in addressing its concerns in the area of human rights and fundamental freedoms, including as regards the crackdown on peaceful political actions ..." On 5 August 2024, the EU Council decided to impose restrictive measures on 28 additional individuals in Belarus due to their involvement in internal repression and human rights violations.

"Besides that, the US State Department pointed out abuses by the security forces, poor prison conditions, politically-motivated arrests, political interference in the work of the judiciary, restrictions of civil liberties and many other issues.

In January 2007, he further consolidated his rule through local elections that failed to meet international standards.The 2008 State Department Belarus Report[191] noted grave, habitual abuses by the Belarusian government of human rights and disregard for the freedoms of speech, press, religion and association.

The State Department references the 2 September 2008 Report of the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH) on Conditions of Detention in Belarus which noted "substantial evidence" of the use of torture and mistreatment of suspects during criminal and administrative investigations.