Civic Solidarity Platform condemns mass detentions and police violence against peaceful demonstrators, calls for a strong reaction by the international community

Civic Solidarity Platform, of which OMCT is member, ias a coalition of nongovernment organizations committed to improving the human rights situation in Europe, Eurasia and the US.
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We, the undersigned members of theCivic Solidarity Platform (CSP), a coalition of human rights NGOs from Europe,the former Soviet Union region and North America, and other non-governmentalorganisations decry the mass detentions of peaceful demonstrators, journalistsand human rights defenders, as well as the use of violence and abusivetreatment targeting them in Belarus on 25-26 March 2017. These events were theculmination of a series of repressive measures taken by the authorities of thecountry since the beginning of March to stifle the public expression ofgrievances. Given the severity of this human rights crisis of unprecedentedscale since December 2010, it is crucial that the international community takesresolute action to push for an end to the crackdown in Belarus and justice forthose targeted by it.

We condemn the gross violations ofthe right to peaceful assembly, freedom of expression, freedom from arbitrarydetention, and the right to fair trial in Belarus in connection with the recentpeaceful protests, and call on the international community to use all availablemeans to put pressure on the Belarusian authorities to immediately end theseviolations.

Such measures by the authorities should include:

- immediately releasing thosecurrently behind bars because of their involvement in the peaceful protests ortheir efforts to monitor them;

- dropping charges against all thoseprosecuted on these grounds;

- carrying out prompt, thorough andimpartial investigations into all allegations of arbitrary detention,ill-treatment and other violations of the rights of protesters, passers-by,journalists, human rights defenders and political activists in connection withthe protests; and

- bringing those responsible forviolations to justice.

We call in particular for thefollowing concrete actions by international community in response to thecurrent crackdown in Belarus:

To the OSCE:

· The OSCE participating States shouldinitiate and support the renewal of the Moscow Mechanism in relation to Belarusand the appointment of a new rapporteur for this process, in view of the factthat the current developments mirror those on the grounds of which thismechanism was invoked in 2011;

· The OSCE Chairmanship should appointa Special Representative on Belarus, whose mandate should include investigatingthe recent violations;

· The Office of DemocraticInstitutions and Human Rights should monitor the trials of those facing chargesbecause of their participation in the recent peaceful protests, or theirefforts to monitor and report on them;

· The OSCE Parliamentary Assemblyshould reconsider holding its annual session in Minsk in July 2017 and identifyanother host country and city for this event.

To the Council of Europe:

· The Parliamentary Assembly of theCouncil of Europe should replace its current rapporteur on the situation inBelarus, ensuring that the individual holding this position forcefully speaksout against human rights violations in the country.

To the UN:

· Members of the Human Rights Council shouldextend the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation inBelarus, continueurging the Belarusian authorities to allow the Special Rapporteur to visit thecountry, and adopt a strong resolution on the human rights situation inBelarus at the next session of the Council;

· High Commissioner on Human Rights shouldpublicly condemn the crackdown in Belarus and engage in direct contact with theBelarusian authorities on this matter.

To international financial institutions:

· International financial institutionsshould apply strong human rights conditionality in the implementation of their programsin Belarus and refrain from allocating funding to government projects until thehuman rights situation in the country has substantially improved. Specifically,the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development should reinstate itscalibrated strategy on Belarus.

To the EU:

· The EU member states and institutionsshould apply stronger and more consistent human rights conditionality to thedevelopment of its relations with Belarus and consider the prospects ofreinstating sanctions similar to those applied in 2011-12 for widespread humanrights violations.

To the USA:

· The US government should consider reinstating the sanctionsagainst Belarus that it suspended in 2015-16.

Background information, based on reports from the ground:

In the afternoon of 25 March 2017,people took to the streets in the Belarusian capital of Minsk for plannedpeaceful protests on the occasion of the Day of Freedom, which commemorates theBelarusian declaration of independence in 1918. There was as a heavy police andsecurity presence in the city, the downtown area where protests were due to beheld was cordoned off, and traffic was blocked on the main Independence Avenue.Local and international human rights monitors representing the CSP memberorganisations documented the use of heavy-handed tactics by the law enforcementand security authorities to prevent the peaceful protests, for whichauthorities had not given advance permission as required by Belarusian law andin violation of international standards. At least 700 people were detained on25 March, including elderly and passers-by. As can be seen on available photos and footage, police forcefully rounded up and beatprotesters with batons, although these made no resistance. More than 30journalists and photographers from both Belarusian and international mediaoutlets were detained; cameras and other equipment of some of them were damagedby police. Toward the evening, police started releasing detainees from thedetention facilities, in many cases without charge. However, others remain indetention, and dozens of individuals are expected to stand trial startingMonday 27 March on charges relating to their participation in the peacefulprotests.

The following episode requiresparticular attention: At 12.45 pm local time on 25 March, about an hour beforethe start of the planned peaceful protest, anti-riot police raided the officesof the Human Rights Center Viasna and detained a total of 57 Belarusian andforeign human rights defenders and volunteers as well as journalists. Humanrights defenders and volunteers had gathered there for a training on monitoringthe protests and were planning to go to the streets of Minsk for observation ofthe assemblies. Among them were representatives of Viasna, the BelarusianHelsinki Committee, the Belarusian Documentation Center, Frontline Defenders,International Partnership for Human Rights and other organisations. The policeshouted at all present, intimidated them, and ordered to lie down on the floorface down. 57 people were detained without any charges, packed in the buses andbrought to the Pervomaisky district police station, where their belongings weresearched and their personal information recorded. The detainees were held therefor two and a half hours and were released afterwards without charges. One ofthe detained needed medical treatment because of injuries sustained when beingbeaten by police. The raid of the offices of Viasna and the detention of themonitors were clearly aimed at intimidating and preventing them from observingthe peaceful assembly and documenting possible violations.

The crackdown continued on 26 March,with dozens of people being detained by police as they gathered at OctoberSquare in Minsk at noon to express solidarity with those detained the daybefore. Among the detained on 26 March were at least one human rights defender,one civil society activist and one journalist. Representatives of national andinternational human rights NGOs, including members of the CSP, continue todocument violations perpetrated in connection with the events of the last fewdays.

The detentions on 25-26 Marchfollowed the earlier detention of about 300 people, including oppositionmembers, journalists and human rights defenders in the last few weeks. Thesedetentions have taken place against the background of a wave of peacefuldemonstrations that were carried out across Belarus since mid-February 2017 toprotest against so-called “social parasites” law which imposes a special tax onthose who have worked for less than six months during the year withoutregistering as unemployed. The legislation, which has affected hundreds of thousandsof people in the economically struggling country, has caused widespread dismay.On 9 March, President Lukashenko suspended the implementation of the law butrefused to withdraw it, resulting in further protests. Many of those detainedhave been fined or arrested for up to 15 days on administrative charges relatedto their participation in the peaceful protests. Over two dozen people arefacing criminal charges on trumped-up charges of preparation to massriots.

Signed by the following CSP members:

1. Analytical Center for Inter-Ethnic Cooperationand Consultations (Georgia)

2. Article 19 (United Kingdom)

3. Association UMDPL (Ukraine)

4. Bir Duino (Kyrgyzstan)

5. Bulgarian Helsinki Committee

6. Center for Civil Liberties (Ukraine)

7. Centre for the Development of Democracy andHuman Rights (Russia)

8. Committee against Torture (Russia)

9. Crude Accountability (USA)

10. Freedom Files (Russia/Poland)

11. German-Russian Exchange – DRA (Germany)

12. Helsinki Association of Armenia

13. Helsinki Citizens' Assembly – Vanadzor (Armenia)

14. Helsinki Committee of Armenia

15. Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia

16. Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights (Poland)

17. Human Rights Center of Azerbaijan

18. Human Rights First (USA)

19. Human RightsHouse Foundation (Norway)

20. Human Rights Information Center (Ukraine)

21. Human Rights Monitoring Institute (Lithuania)

22. The institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety(Azerbaijan/Georgia/Switzerland)

23. Index on Censorship (United Kingdom)

24. Institute Respublica (Ukraine)

25. International Partnership for Human Rights(Belgium)

26. Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rightsand Rule of Law

27. The Kosova Rehabilitation Center for TortureVictims

28. Macedonian Helsinki Committee

29. Moscow Helsinki Group (Russia)

30. The Netherlands Helsinki Committee

31. Norwegian Helsinki Committee

32. Office of Civil Freedoms (Tajikistan)

33. Promo-LEX (Moldova)

34. Protection of Rights without Borders (Armenia)

35. Public Association "Dignity"(Kazakhstan)

36. Public Alternative Foundation (Ukraine)

37. Public Foundation Golos Svobody (Kyrgyzstan)

38. Public Verdict Foundation (Russia)

39. Regional Center for Strategic Studies(Azerbaijan/ Georgia)

40. Serbian Helsinki Committee for Human Rights

41. SOLIDARUS e.V. (Germany)

42. The Swiss Helsinki Committee

43. Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union

44. Women’s International League for Peace andFreedom

45. World Organisation against Torture (OMCT)

Other organisations who have joined the statement:

46. Belarus Free Theatre

47. Libereco – Partnership for Human Rights (Switzerland)

48. PENInternational

More signatures are beingadded.