According to the established procedure, every four years the government has to report to the Human Rights Committee on the implementation of its obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Now Belarus is to provide answers to the list of issues prepared by the Human Rights Committee. Based on the responses, Belarus will present a report to the HRC.

In developing the list of issues Belarusian NGOs were able to prepare a report with proposals on which issues could be raised. The coalition of Belarusian human rights organizations has analyzed the human rights situation, developed a series of recommendations and submitted its report to the Human Rights Committee on April 2015 (see attached file).

In the prepared document Belarusian human rights defenders, among whom were graduates of the program “International Law in Advocacy”, it is recommended to request both general information about the human rights situation in the country, as well as specific information on the implementation of articles of the Covenant taking into account previous recommendations of the Committee. For example, human rights defenders have proposed to ask questions about the protection of the right to life and the right to a fair trial, the prohibition of torture and other degrading treatment or punishment, freedom of movement and freedom of conscience and religious beliefs. Human rights defenders also drew attention to the issues of discrimination, forced labor, freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, freedom of association and the right to participation in public affairs.

It is important to note that many of the issues, proposed for consideration by the Belarusian NGOs, were eventually included in the List of issues for Belarus adopted by the Human Rights Committee in July 2015 (see attached file). The proposals of the coalition of Belarusian human rights defenders have been considered and the issues relating to the death penalty, arbitrary arrests and detentions, restrictions on freedom of peaceful assembly were included in the list among the other issues. In addition, the Republic of Belarus now will have to comment on the cases of arbitrary restrictions on freedom of movement of human rights defenders, lawyers and journalists, an exile of the Belarusian human rights activist Elena Tonkacheva, harassment and intimidation of lawyers working on politically motivated cases.

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