Amendments to citizenship law violate Belarus’ international obligations – opposition lawyers

January 2, BPN. Amendments allowing authorities to strip dissidents of citizenship show that human rights abuse will continue, lawyers from the National Anti-Crisis Management (NAM) said in a statement.

Belarusian MPs no longer consider it necessary to follow minimum rights standards and directly deprive Belarusians of freedoms guaranteed by the International Bill of Human Rights, the lawyers said. 

Amendments undermine the international commitment to eliminate statelessness, violate the 1951 Refugee Convention, and limit the rights and freedoms of Belarusians with multiple citizenships or residence permits in other states, they added. 

The Council of the Republic, the upper house of the National Assembly, approved a bill “On Citizenship of the Republic of Belarus” on December 21, 2022. The bill has yet to be signed by Alaksandr Łukašenka into law. 

It would introduce new grounds for annulling citizenship such as “a court sentence that has come into legal force, confirming that a person participates in extremist activities or causes serious harm to Belarus’ interests, when that person is outside Belarus.” 

This way, opposition leader Śviatłana Cichanoŭskaja, former cabinet minister Pavieł Łatuška and other prominent democratic figures, whom the authorities deem extremist and prosecute in absentia, may be left without passports.

Article 10 of the Constitution says that no-one can be stripped of citizenship or of the right to change it, adding that termination of citizenship shall be carried out in line with law.