In short: Belarus ranks high in the global SDG Index, but there is a major “BUT.” The human rights situation — especially under Goal 16 — continues to deteriorate, and alternative civil society reports highlight this gap.
The focus of international advocacy efforts lies in the release of political prisoners and the cessation of the incommunicado regime, as well as the establishment of an independent accountability mechanism to facilitate investigation by the OHCHR into the situation in Belarus and the renewal of the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on Belarus.
The Belarusian Helsinki Committee made a statement on behalf of the coalition of Belarusian human rights organizations at an interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on Belarus during the 53rd session of the Human Rights Council.
We recalled at least 1,500 political prisoners who are being held in conditions that have nothing to do with basic standards of humane treatment, including incommunicado detention of a number of political prisoners.
A representative of the Belarusian Helsinki Committee spoke today at the Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers during the 53rd session of the Human Rights Council.
In an online appeal prepared jointly with Belarusian Association of Human Rights Lawyers, we described the repressive campaign that the Belarusian government is waging against lawyers who defend human rights.
On September 7, 2022, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe decided to establish The Council of Europe Contact Group on Relations with Belarus. The Council of Europe[1] suspended cooperation with the official authorities of the country in March 2022 due to complicity in Russia's military aggression against Ukraine.
The first meeting of the group took place on November 7th.
