Andrei Yurov had arrived in Belarus on 14 March in the capacity of a human rights defender on behalf of the Committee on International Control over the Situation with Human Rights in Belarus. There is no border control between Russia and Belarus, and during the passport check at the airport no obstacles had been put.
However, on the 16 March the human rights defender was detained and conveyed to the local police department. According to the Committee on International Control over the Situation with Human Rights in Belarus, on 17 March Andrei Yurov received a decree on cancelling the initiation of criminal proceedings and official notification about including him to the Belarusian persona non grata list. The document was signed by the head of Regional Department of Internal Affairs of the Minsk City Savietski District lieutenant-colonel A.V. Hermanovich. Nevertheless, the Belarusian MFA denies the existence of such a list. Yurov is prohibited to visit Belarus until 2013 for alleged interfering into domestic affairs of sovereign state.
The Observation mission
Andrei Yurov is the Head of the International Observation Mission of the Committee on International Control over the Situation with Human Rights in Belarus, an initiative launched on 27 December 2010. The aim of the mission is the observation of actions taken by the Belarusian authorities as well as general monitoring of human rights situation in Belarus and problems concerning the human rights defenders’ activity. The Mission includes the representatives of human rights organisations of OSCE countries although for the sake of objectivity, no Belarusian organisation was included.
The Human Rights House Foundation had helped and continues to help the Mission in different ways. Some of the partner organisations of the Human Rights network from Russia, Ukraine, Poland and Armenia also take part in the Mission.
Who will defend a human rights defender?
That is the second case of the Belarusian authorities expelling a Mission member.
Earlier, on 9 March, the assistant representative of the International Observation Mission, Ukrainian citizen Maksim Kytsiuk who planned to fulfil his duties could not enter Belarus as well. Andrei Yurov is now going to lodge a complaint against his detention and non grata status through Russian judicial system, MFAs of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine as well as international organisations – OSCE and the UN.
“These actions hinder the lawful activity of the human rights defenders and violate many international accords, including the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders” – said Yurov.
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In April 2010, The Human Rights Council adopted a resolution which proclaimed the integral role of the state in assisting the human rights defenders and creating the safe and favourable conditions for their work. The resolution also says that in case of violation of human rights defender’s rights, the state is obliged to investigate such incidents efficiently and fairly and to hold the guilty responsible.
In 1999 the UN General Assemble adopted the Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. It is noted in the Declaration that the activity of human rights defenders contributes to the maintenance of international standards of the human rights to a considerable degree. It also says that the human rights defenders need an additional protection due to the nature of their work
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