EP Subcommittee discusses situations in Belarus and Azerbaijan

Human rights activists Alena Tankachova and Uladzimir Labkovich spoke to the European Parliament's Subcommittee on Human Rights about the Belarusian problem.

“We spoke about our assessment of the situation of human rights and freedoms in Belarus. We also proposed our recommendations on improving communication between European and UN institutions in relation to the situation of human rights and democracy in Belarus,” Alena Tankachova, the head of the Legal Transformation Centre, said in an interview with Radio Svaboda after the meeting of the Subcommittee.

She said that Belarusian human rights activists supported the conclusions and recommendations in the report by the Special Rapporteur of the UN Human Rights Council Miklos Haraszti.

“We think that European organisations should increase interaction with the Special Rapporteur and base on his conclusions and recommendations when assessing the human rights situation. We also turned attention to the fact that a number of the UNHRC Special Rapporteurs, including those on torture, freedom of expression, arbitrary detentions and freedom of association and assembly, asked the Belarusian authorities to allow them to visit the country, but were denied this opportunity. We think all means possible must be used to insist on their invitation to Belarus,” she said.

The EP's Special Rapporteur on the situation in Belarus Justas Paleckis was present at the meeting.

“We discussed his report. Paleckis demonstrated an ability to communicate with representatives of civil society. His new document took into account the critical remarks on his first draft report,” Alena Tankachova said.

According to him, representatives of Azerbaijan noticed that the situation in their country resembled the Belarusian one. They spoke about political prisoners, absence of freedom of speech and freedom of assembly and association.

“They say these processes have recently escalated, as it happened in Belarus in December 2010. They think Azerbaijan has a similar situation ahead of the election,” the head of the Legal Transformation Centre, Alena Tankachova, said.