UN committee regrets Belarus’ withdrawal from individual complaints procedure

November 25, BPN. Belarus’ withdrawal from the individual complaints procedure is a serious obstacle to the protection of human rights, the UN Human Rights Committee has said.

It deeply regretted Belarus’ withdrawal from the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) 30 years after the nation had joined this instrument.

The Committee said Minsk’s recent decision to denounce the protocol will deprive victims of human rights violations, who have been denied justice at the national level, of the opportunity to file complaints with the UN.

“The possibility of submitting individual petitions to the Committee is undeniably an avenue that has been and remains to be resorted by many individuals seeking justice. Depriving victims of such an important opportunity is a serious and unfortunate setback for human rights protection under the Covenant,” said Committee Chairperson Photini Pazartzis.

Belarus ratified the optional protocol on September 30, 1992. Since then, the Committee has considered hundreds of complaints against Belarus on issues ranging from freedom of expression and the right to peaceful assembly to fair trial in cases involving the death penalty. The procedure has contributed to the development of jurisprudence on important issues for Belarus and other participating states, the Committee said.

The withdrawal will take place on February 8, 2023, three months after the UN Secretary General has received the respective notice from the Belarusian authorities.

The Committee hopes that Belarus would reconsider its decision and re-accede to the protocol, restoring the rights that had long been used by complainants, Pazartzis said.