At the OSCE Conference Human Rights Violations in Belarus were discussed :: Charter'97 :: News

OSCE is holding a two-weeks’ conference on human rights and democracy in Warsaw. The core issue of the conference is the liquidation by the judicial organs of some non-governmental organizations in Belarus.

OSCE, a member of which Belarus is, stated that this year the authorities have closed about twelve organizations because of such minor issues as inaccurate registration or the usage of wrong addresses. The Belarusian authorities warned the Union of Poles against the usage of the Polish language in its blanks and the second warning will lead to the closing of the organization.

The executive director of the International Helsinki Federation for human rights Aaron Roads was in Warsaw and watched the OSCE debates on the Belarusian issue. According to him, the delegates expressed their concerns about the failure of the Belarusian authorities to execute their democratic obligations.

“It shows that the Belarusian regime is moving towards totalitarianism. And as other totalitarian regimes does not show tolerance to the civil society, even though it is not striving to power and influence”, said Roads.

He also expressed a concern in regards with Lukashenka’s Soviet methods of ruling, who has been in power since 1994.