Belarusian Helsinki Committee

Cases

Relevant SG report

From Country

Country Geolocation

Latitude: 53.709807

Longitude: 27.953389

From Region

UN body that raised the case prior to the SG report

Individual's/organization's activity: independent, non-political, non-profit public association that works to promote and protect human rights.

Type of rights defended

Was the victim a civil servant or member of the security forces or of the judiciary?: No

Reported trigger of reprisal: The Committee declared on its website that it had sent a letter to the Special Rapporteur on judges&lawyers

Engagement with UN body

Type of attempted engagement

Reprisal information: The head of department of non-commercial organizations of the Ministry of Justice reportedly requested the Committee to provide him with the text of the letter within 30 minutes. On the same day, a statement was issued by the Ministry of Justice accusing the Committee of distorting information contained in reports issued by the Ministry regarding the demonstrations. The Ministry also alleged that the information sent by the Committee to international organizations depicted a distorted view of the current state of affairs in the country and that such conduct was tantamount to a violation of domestic legislation governing non-governmental organizations.

Types of reprisals suffered

Does the report make general comment about country’s environment for engagement with UN?: No

Government response content: The Government of Belarus sent a response to the communication, but did not provide information relating to the situation of the Belarusian Helsinki Committee.

Is the country cited for a "pattern of reprisal" in the context of this case?: No

Is a pattern of reprisals mentioned otherwise in the context of this case?: No

Does the report cite "self-censorship" as an issue in the context of this case?: No

Follow up information provided in SG report 0

The Belarusian Helsinki Committee, referred to in my previous report(A/HRC/18/19, paras. 28-30), allegedly is still subjected to restrictions which hamper its work in the defence of human rights. According to information received, a member of the Belarusian Helsinki Committee was reportedly informed in March 2012 that a travel ban had been issued against him. Several special procedures sent a communication regarding the case on 21 May 2012 (see A/HRC/21/49). At the time of the completion of the present report, no response had been received from the Government.