Mr. Alexander Lukashenko
President of the Republic of Belarus
Fax: (375 17) 226 06 10 Mr. Valentin Sukalo

Chairman
Supreme Court of the Republic of Belarus
tel./fax: (375 17) 227 12 25
E-mail: scjustrb@pmrb.gov.by Mr. Viktor Golovanov

Minister of Justice of the Republic of Belarus
Tel./fax: (375 17) 2009755

Re: Denial of Registration of Nasha Viasna

The Belarusian Human Rights House in exile in Vilnius (Lithuania) and the Human Rights House Foundation in Oslo (Norway) are deeply disappointed with the decision of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Belarus to turn down the appeal against non-registration of the human rights organisation Nasha Viasna. We consider this ruling a politically motivated denial of the human rights organisation’s right to freedom of association and call upon the Belarusian authorities to abide by the national laws and international instruments guaranteeing such a right. 

On 12 August 2009 the Supreme Court of the Republic of Belarus turned down the appeal against non-registration of the human rights organization Nasha Viasna. The court decision was motivated by incorrect or distorted information in the list of the founders and by the insufficiency of the documents guaranteeing provision of legal address to the organization. Article 15 of the Law of the Republic of Belarus on Public Associations, in which grounds for the denial of registration of a public association are stipulated, does not list such violations. 

Furthermore, according to Article 15 of the Law of the Republic of Belarus on Public Associations, when the established registration procedure is violated and the violations are of a removable nature, a decision may be taken to postpone the registration, thus giving the founders an opportunity to correct inconsistencies. According to our information, the founders of Nasha Viasna expressed their willingness to correct the violations and requested the postponement of registration, which would allow them to bring all the documents in complete compliance with the requirements of the Ministry of Justice. Yet, they were denied this possibility.  

We understand that the decision to postpone registration of an organization to give it time to remove violations is a right and not an obligation of the Ministry of Justice. However, bearing in mind that:

·         these are minor violations;
·         they are obviously not within the scope of violations entailing denial of registration according to Article 15 of the Law on Public Associations;
·         this organization, an internationally-respected human rights NGO, has been repeatedly denied registration on no serious grounds;

we believe that the decision not to register Nasha Viasna rather than give its founders an opportunity to correct the violations and proceed with their registration application is politically motivated and is in complete denial of their right to freedom of association, freedom of organization and the right to be a human rights defender.

We call upon the Belarusian authorities to reconsider the decision of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Belarus of 12 August 2009 and to allow the founders of Nasha Viasna to correct the breaches and proceed with their registration. We also call upon the Belarusian authorities to abide by the laws of the Republic of Belarus and international obligations ratified by the country, in particular the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (Article 22).  

Sincerely,

The Human Rights House Foundation, Norway

The Belarusian Human Rights House in exile in Vilnius (Lithuania)

 

Copies have been sent to:

  • UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders
  • UN Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression
  • UN Human Rights Committee
  • The OSCE/ODIHR, Warsaw
  • The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
  • The Standing Committee for Foreign Affairs of the Norwegian Parliament
  • The Norwegian Embassy in Kiev
  • The Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
  • The Swiss Ministry of Foreign Affairs
  • Office of the Embassy of Switzerland in Kiev
  • Mission of the United States of America to the UN in Geneva
  • Delegation of the European Commission to Belarus

Documents: