Members of the Human Rights House Network from six different countries express their deep concern regarding freedom of association in Belarus and urge the Belarusian Supreme Court  to withdraw the refusual by the Ministry of Justice of re-registration of the human rights center “Viansa”. Read the statement below. (25-OCT-07)    

                                           STATEMENT
Following the Human Rights Center “Viasna’s” participation in observing the 2001 presidential elections, the Supreme Court of the Republic of Belarus cancelled the organisation’s registration. Hence, from autumn 2003, “Viasna” was forcibly closed.

The closure of “Viasna” was part of a campaign against NGOs, conducted in 2003 by Belarusian authorities. During that time, the Belarusian authorities liquidated more than 300 NGOs out of the approximately 2.000 active in the country.

In 2004, the former President of “Viasna”, Ales Bialiatski, presented documentation concerning the forced closure to the UN Human Rights Committee. In August 2007 the Committee concluded that the forced closure of “Viasna” violates Article 22(1) of the 1966 UN Covenant on Civil and Political Rights on freedom of association. Following the view of the Committee, the former staff of “Viasna” presented registration documents to the Ministry of Justice in summer 2007.

When the Ministry of Justice refused to re-register “Viasna” in August 2007, the Belarusian authorities directly violated their obligations to follow the decision of the UN Human Rights Committee issued on July 24, 2007 regarding the closure of “Viasna”. In its conclusion, the UN Committee found that the rights on freedom of association had been violated and considered that the co-authors of the complaint were “entitled to an appropriate remedy, including the re-registration of “Viasna”, and that Belarus was “under an obligation to take steps to prevent similar violations occurring in the future” (§9).

The Supreme Court must take into consideration the international obligations of the Belarusian state and adopt the conclusion of the UN Human Rights Committee. The refusal to re-register “Viasna” is only one example of Belarusian authorities’ attitude towards freedom of association. Members of the Human Rights House Network hereby express their deep concern regarding freedom of association in Belarus. We urge for the decision to be withdrawn and for “Viasna” to be registered as a legal, independent human rights organisation, a status it is entitled to under international law.

Human Rights House Foundation
Norwegian Helsinki Committee
Norwegian PEN
Helsinki Committee in Poland,
Polish Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights
Polis Association
Wiridarium Group
The Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Index on Censorship
Article 19
Human Rights Center of Azerbaijan
Democracy Monitor
Association for Defence of Women´s Rights named after D. Aliyeva
The Azerbaijan National Group of ISHR
Women´s Association for Rational Development
The Russian Research Center for Human Rights