Participants of the project “Bring International Standards Home. De facto implementation of international obligations of the Republic of Belarus in the field of civil rights and freedoms” of the “International Law in Advocacy” program met with Belarusian and international experts during one of the sessions of the project, where they received information about the international human rights protection, opportunities and practice with the
mechanisms of the UN human rights.Vrej Atabekian (right), Human Rights Officer of the Europe and Central Asia Section, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights spoke before the Belarusian human rights defenders and lawyers  . Mr. Atabekian told everyone about the basic principles and mechanisms for the protection of human rights within the UN system and the structures of the statutory bodies of the UN, which offer the promotion and protection human rights.

“The participants of our training program are very fortunate that the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights approved the participation of its employees in our training event. Thus, the participants have an opportunity to talk directly to the person who works with the mechanisms, the implementation of which often the Belarusian human rights defenders and lawyers have to ask for.This provided an opportunity to establish personal contact, to find answers to many questions and learn directly about the features and specifics of the work existing within the UN system, “- said Oleg Agueyev (left), the manager of the training program “Bring International Standards Home. De facto implementation of international obligations of the Republic of Belarus in the field of civil rights and freedoms.”

The experts, who were speaking before the participants of the project, have repeatedly stressed out the importance of cooperation with international systems of human rights defense, they also presented the experience of international, foreign and national human rights organizations and human rights defenders , as well as successful practice in solving problems in this sphere.

Coincidentally, on 26 February, on the eve of the session, the project “Bring International Standards Home. De facto implementation of international obligations of the Republic of Belarus in the field of civil rights and freedoms”, one of its creators, the Belarusian human rights defender and the first President of Belarusian Human Rights House Barys Zvozskau would have turned 65 years old.Barys Zvozskau died in June 2012, leaving a significant mark in the history of the human rights defense in Belarus.

Thus, Ukrainian human rights activist Sergei Burov (right), who together with Barys Zvozskau participated in the planning and development of educational projects for Belarusian lawyers, spoke about the development of the project and the results that it has achieved: “It was Barys Zvozskau’s dream, Liudmila Ulyashyna had similar idea and together they joined forces in order to create such a project. There was an idea to teach Belarusian lawyers, so they would implement international human rights protection mechanisms more professionally in cases where national mechanisms do not work. Initially, the course was aimed at making the Belarusian human rights defenders and lawyers to use such a mechanism as complaints to the Human Rights Committee more often. Indeed, now the complaints became more frequent and they also became more professional – now they pass the criteria for eligibility, they are being considered.This work is extremely important, because this is one of the ways to avoid the isolation of the country – due to the complaints international institutions know about Belarus, and the facts from the complaints are being recorded and documented. Thus, carrying out the work of human rights defenders and lawyers, this program strengthens the capacity of civil society in Belarus.”

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The project “Bring International Standards Home. De facto implementation of international obligations of the Republic of Belarus in the field of civil rights and freedoms” is part of the Human Rights House Network’s program “International Law in Advocacy.”

The project was developed by a team of lawyers and human rights defenders in 2005 and has since been carried out by partner organizations of the Human Rights House Foundation in collaboration with international and national experts.

Since the beginning of the project and to date, the project partners – non-governmental organizations in Belarus, Ukraine, Poland, Norway and Lithuania have been working together to ensure that lawyers and human rights defenders in Belarus had the opportunity to improve their skills in the application of international standards in the protection of human rights and freedoms.

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