Quarter of Million Signatures In Human Rights Support :: Charter'97 :: News

On the occasion of the 10th of December 2003, the day of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Dutch section of Amnesty International collected more than 250.000 signatures for the protection of human rights defenders all over the world. These are those men and women who alone or together with others promote and protect universally recognized human rights and fundamental freedoms. In many countries they take great risks in doing so.

The signatures were divided into 10 parcels, each of them containing 25.000. On the 24th of February they were taken to The Hague by small pick-up cars. On each car there was a large box, symbolizing the transport of a parcel. Texts on the boxes were addressed to several countries where human rights defenders are under pressure. One of the countries was Belarus.

One month ago Amnesty had announced to the ambassador, Mr. Vladimir Gerasimovich, its wish to offer him the signatures. The organization also asked for a meeting with him or any other representative of the embassy. After receiving no answer the activists phoned the embassy several times and finally received the message that they were not welcome. However, they decided to continue our planned action.

On the 24th of February an Amnesty delegation arrived at the Belarussian embassy at 11.30 AM. The box was put on the sidewalk in front of the embassy. Unfortunately the representative of the embassy, who opened the door, refused to accept the petitions. He explained that the facts mentioned in the publications of Amnesty on Belarus are not true. Therefore the embassy saw no reason whatsoever to accept the signatures. He also declared that human rights issues are the “internal affairs” of a country. When asked if it would be possible to have a discussion on the concerns of Amnesty International about human rights defenders in Belarus in the near future, he answered that he was not in a position to comment on this issue. The members of the delegation put the box back on the truck and left for Amsterdam. Amnesty Netherlands will of course find another way to bring its concern and that of 250.000 Dutch citizens under the attention of the Belarussian authorities.