– I hope the European standards will become a basis for lawmaking in my country, Zhanna Litvina, Chair of the Belarusian Association of Journalists said last week in Minsk at a conference co-hosted by HRH, on European human rights standards. The situation for independent media in Belarus has worsened since 2001.(22-FEBR-05).

-The professional level of the conference impressed me, the ambassador of the OSCE Office in Minsk said, observing the conference European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. Belarusian Experience: Problems and Prospects. The two-day forum was attended by representatives from the Human Rights House Foundation (HRH), the Polish Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, the Norwegian PEN-Center, Amnesty International, as well as lawyers, journalists and human rights activists from Belarusian Association of Journalists, Belarusian PEN-Center, Belarusian Helsinki Committee, Legal Initiative, the Human Rights Center Viasna and others.

The Belarusian reality in the context of  European standards
 On the first conference day the participants discussed the principles of work conducted by international agencies towards securing human rights, as well as setting the Belarusian reality in a European context. In her welcoming address, the BAJ Chair Zhanna Litvina said that she hoped the European standards would become a basis for lawmaking in our country.  Ane Bonde, the representative for the Human Rights House Foundation, Norway, said she hoped the discussion would generate more attention to Belarus from the Council of Europe. -I am very pleased that the list of participants includes so many from the regions, she said.

Experts from Poland and the Russian Federation
Valentin Gefter, the director of the Russian Institute of Human Rights, gave an account of how the agencies of the European Convention function. He also regretted that Belarus has yet to join these agreements.  (Russia ratified the Convention in 1998). The activity of the European Court was covered in detail by Slavamir Cybulski, expert of the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, Poland.  Ann-Magrit Austenaa, the leader of the Norwegian Union of Journalists and a member of the Norwegian PEN-Center, spoke of the documents that regulate the work of journalists in Norway, and of the agencies that supervise their activity.

A new strategy
 Tatsiana Protska, Chair of the Belarusian Helsinki Committe, expressed expectations concerning the further collaboration of European agencies with Belarus: In particular, she proposed using a ´step-based´ strategy toward her country, as well as setting up a committee which would continuously monitor the human rights situation, and respond to any deterioration with concrete sanctions. 

The new media legislation
In the second half of the day, the participants discussed the media situation and the freedom of association in Belarus. Andrey Bastunets and Mikhail Pastukhov; the legal experts from BAJ, focused on the last years´ limititations to the freedom of the press, the closure of several independent newspapers and the consequences of a new media law, which should be adopted in Parliament this term. 

Recommendations
The independent lawyer Valentin Labkovitch gave a presentation of the Belarusian Legislation on Freedom of Assembly. Yurii Labkovich concentrated his speech on the international mechanism and UN Committee on Human Rights. The second day of the conference recommendations towards the work on freedom of assembly and freedom of speech were sorted out by the participants.

Basing on the results of the Section Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, the Section participants have adopted the following recommendations:

1. applications requesting permission to hold peaceful assemblies (demonstrations, processions, picketing etc.) should reference international legal standards;

2. human rights activists appearing in courts:
– should refer to the practice of the European Court and UN Committee for Human Rights as an officially accepted interpretation of international law principles (in an attempt to influence the inner conviction of judges, proceeding from the assumption that the “court evaluates the evidence presented according to their inner conviction based on …”);
– should lodge petitions:

a) prepare methodological recommendations based on how the UN Committee for Human Rights reviews complaints;
b) regarding the attachment of extracts from MP GPP and from the Committee decisions;
c) regarding the direct application of provisions laid down in the Belarusian Constitution;
d) regarding the recognition of an enactment(s) as violating the Constitution of Belarus and the international legally binding commitments of the Republic of Belarus;
e) each petition made in compliance with b) and c) should be brought to the attention of the Constitutional Court of Belarus;
f) when prepared, appeals should be based not only on the factual circumstances and internal legislation but also on the international legally binding commitments undertaken by Belarus, and also reference decisions taken by the UN Committee and EC;

3. all court instances of Belarus should be involved;

4. the information reported to the Committee should be written in the language of international law: inadmissible restrictions (which are possibly introduced in a Law but contradict the internationally accepted standards and are not “necessary in democratic society”);

5. the information reported should spell out requests in a clear manner: modifying an enactment, paying compensation, remedying damage (fine, confiscated property etc.)

6. the international NGOs accredited with the Committee should be informed.

7. it should be attempted to compel the courts to act in accordance with the Regulation of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of Belarus dated 25 March 1999 No.1 in what concerns allowing representatives (rather than only lawyers) to take part in court proceedings.

8. Cases that involve the police violating legislation (resorting to unmotivated violence, in particular) should be reported to the procurator’s office.

9. The Law on Mass Events in the Republic of Belarus should be sent to the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Belarus so that the latter consider the constitutionality of this law in what concerns the right to peaceful assembly.

10. Denied requests for a mass event should be legally appealed in all court instances, as well as in the UN Commitee for Human Rights.

11. Considering that the decision allowing the holding of a mass event should be taken at a sitting of a collegial body of a local executive committee, organizers of mass events should request executive committees to allow their presence at such sittings.

12. The decisions taken by the UN Committee for Human Rights in the cases involving the citizens of the Republic of Belarus should be widely publicized.

13. Human rights organizations should be informed of how the national and international legal standards are implemented.