Belarusian Helsinki Committee

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The Belarusian Helsinki Committee or Belarusian Helsinki Committee ( Belarusian Беларускі Хельсінкскі камітэт ) is the oldest and most important human rights organization in Belarus .

history

The Belarusian Helsinki Committee was founded on November 1st, 1995, among others by Swetlana Alexijewitsch , later the first Belarusian Nobel Prize winner, Wassil Bykau and others. It wanted to support the observance of human rights according to the Helsinki Final Act in Belarus. Tatiana Prozko became the first chairwoman.

The committee was often hindered or restricted in its work in the following years. In 2002 it had to submit a financial grant from the European Commission. In 2007 the offices of the organization in Minsk were terminated by the court, but were kept after international protests.

In 2008 Aleh Hulak became the new chairman. Since around 2015 the conditions for the work of the committee have improved somewhat after the improvement of relations between Belarus and the western states after the Minsk Agreement .

activity

The Belarusian Helsinki Committee is committed to upholding human rights in the country. It advises and represents many citizens legally, so far more than 2000 before courts. It draws attention to human rights violations in publications and public events. It conducts seminars and trainings for human rights activists and lawyers.

The committee fights against the death penalty, which is still being used in Belarus as the only European country. It observes the process of parliamentary and presidential elections and reports on them in statements. The Belarusian Helsinki Committee monitors the legislation in Belarus and makes suggestions for changes to the law.

It participated in international observer missions in Transnistria , the North Caucasus , Ukraine , Tajikistan and Uzbekistan .

The committee is involved in the award of the Belarusian Human Rights Prize , which is awarded annually by several organizations.

Structures

The Belarusian Helsinki Committee has its headquarters in Minsk and offices in 12 other cities.

It works with the European Union and international human rights organizations. It was a member of the Helsinki International Federation for Human Rights until its dissolution in 2007.

See also

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ Belarus and Human Rights ( Memento from August 13, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) muz-online, 2001
  2. ^ Death penalty in Belarus Amnesty International , October 4, 2016 (pdf)
  3. ↑ Belarus Human Rights Award Laureates Honored on the Eve of December 10. In: baj.by. Belarusian Association of Journalists , December 9, 2016, accessed March 23, 2018 .