On May 29-30, the conference “Article 193-1: Posture and ways to overcome consequences” took place in the Belarusian HR House in Vilnius, Lithuania. The meeting organized by the Assembly of Pro-Democratic NGOs of Belarus dealt with the problem of criminal responsibility for activity of unregistered non-governmental organizations. (01-JUNE-08)

Source: ngo@belngo.info. This article has been edited and prepared for publication here by HRH F / Niels Jacob Harbitz.

The aim of the conference was to work out concerted approaches of the Belarusian human rights and other civic society activists on withdrawal of criminal responsibility for activity of unregistered civic organizations, political parties, religious organizations and foundations. Participants studied practice of implementation of Criminal Code Article 193-1, exchanged views on potential actions on withdrawal of the article, discussed plans of joint actions on the problem.

It was stated at the conference that the negative effect of the Article 193-1 of Criminal Code of Belarus was not limited only to the already going criminal cases or to the use of it as a measure of political repressions. The frightening factor is dramatic as well: the threat of being brought to a criminal account for activity of unregistered organizations does not let civil society develop and it is a tool for separation of non-governmental organizations from the society.

“It is precisely the decriminalization of activity of unregistered organization through withdrawal of the Criminal Code Article 193-1 that will be the main indicator of improvement of situation with freedom of association in Belarus,” – Yury Chavusau, a lawyer and a participant of the conference said.- “We all agree with the statement that only such a principal step could be considered as an illustration of the Belarusian authorities’ will for improvement of the human rights situation. Without this step, no other possible improvements of the regulations on civil society will be effective. Belarus will not come closer to improving relations between the state and the NGOs, a demand of the so-called ´12 conditions´ set by the EU.”

The main outcome of the conference was the common agreement on the importance of the problem that criminal responsibility for activities of unregistered civic organizations is currently the most important question for human rights organizations. On the basis of this, the participants also agreed that a Withdrawal of Article 193-1 of the Criminal Code of Belarus is the principal condition for improving the human rights situation in the country. The participating organizations have set this task as a priority in their further activity and will conduct a number of consultations to consider more closely the participants’ different proposals and their realization potential.  

Another important aspect of solving the 193-1 Article problem is the necessity of generating closer attention from the international organizations and institutions. This problem was also discussed. The Assembly of Pro-Democratic NGOs of Belarus presented its intention to organize a specialized conference for the officials and politicians of the EU and other international organizations in autumn, 2008, in Brussels.