The project was carried out for six months by graduates and experts of the Human Rights House Network program “International Law in Advocacy” thanks to the initiative of the Barys Zvozskau Belarusian Human Rights House and human rights organizations in Belarus.

 As it was mentioned during the presentation, in the period of the independent Republic of Belarus since 1991, international human rights instruments (bodies and procedures established by the relevant international documents for the protection and promotion of human rights) have been used in Belarus not only by victims of human rights violations, lawyers, attorneys and human rights defenders, but also by the state, as well as international organizations, including non-governmental.

 However, over the past 23 years there was no attempt to create a comprehensive overview of those human rights mechanisms that have been used in Belarus, to analyze the effectiveness of their use, suggest ways to optimize their operation. These problems are considered in the research project.

 The authors expressed the hope that the study will contribute to strengthening the capacity of the human rights defenders’ community to use international human rights mechanisms to ensure better protection of victims of human rights violations and to prevent these violations, to deeper realisation of the need and importance of these mechanisms by the society and the state, who are responsible for the implementation of international human rights obligations.

 The study examined the system of relations in connection with the use of international human rights mechanisms: actions and attitudes of human rights defenders and citizens, work of the very mechanisms in regard to Belarus (procedures, communication, formal results in the form of references, recommendations, decisions), the response of the structures of the state authorities of Belarus, directly drawn into the scope of the international legal mechanisms (the issues of interaction with them, and with the human rights community, participation in the procedure and the implementation of the decisions / recommendations).

 The authors studied the documents of international bodies (decisions, opinions, reports), alternative reports prepared by non-governmental organizations, the documents received from human rights defenders (including correspondence with government agencies of Belarus), information from the sites of international organizations, publications in media covering the period from 1991 to 2014. The researchers also used the results of the survey of 20 Belarusian human rights defenders who have experience in dealing with international human rights mechanisms.

 In addition, the project addressed the UN mechanisms, including the Universal Periodic Review, special procedures of the Human Rights Council (special rapporteurs and working groups), periodic reports of the Republic of Belarus and alternative reports to the supervisory bodies of international treaties (Human Rights Committee, Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, the Committee against Torture, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Committee on the Rights of the Child, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination), individual communications procedure in the supervisory bodies of international treaties (HRC and CEDAW); the conclusions of the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe on the Belarusian legislation and law enforcement, as well as the conclusion of the OSCE on electoral law and trial monitoring.

Participants of the presentation noted that in most cases, the Belarusian government ignores the decisions and recommendations of international bodies, but is forced to reckon with the international legal mechanisms.  This, incidentally, is manifested in the rare facts of restoration of rights, changes in legislation and the implementation of the recommendations, as well as other attempts to save face and give Belarusian authoritarian state at least some legal image.

The Russian language version of the research project of 186 pages so far exists in electronic form only and is being translated into English for distribution among Belarusian and foreign governmental and non-governmental bodies as well as international organizations. In the future, it is possible to release the printed version of the research project.

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