Belarusian rights groups urge international organizations to ignore Internet event in Minsk

November 10, Pozirk. Belarusian human rights groups have urged international organizations not to take part in the Belarus Internet Governance Forum (IGF) scheduled to take place in Minsk on November 15.

The only purpose of the event is “to legitimize state practices of eliminating freedom of speech,” said the Belarusian Association of Journalists and other advocacy groups.

The statement condemns the government’s crackdown on online criticism and independent media.

“Instead of supporting the façade represented by IGF.BY, please, take an informed and effective action – send a letter or a postcard to demand freedom for those political prisoners who contributed to IGF.BY’s development as a platform for dialogue before the 2020 crisis,” the statement says.

Among the potential addressees, the statement names Anastasija Lojka, Maryna Zolatava and Ludmila Čekana, imprisoned journalists of tut.by.

Hosted by Hoster.by, a private business, the forum is also supported by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technologies and the Ministry of Information. The latter is notorious for persecution of independent media outlets and censorship.

“Since the very first Forum in 2016, we have received great support from the ICANN organization. This is an organization that manages all domain zones and IP addresses in the world. Its representatives are invariably guests of our Forum, and this year will not be an exception,” said Siarheij Pavališeŭ, CEO of Hoster.by, the country’s largest registrar of national domains, hosting, and cloud solutions provider.

“Also from international organizations, we will be supported by RIPE NCC. It is an internet registrar that is responsible for allocating IP address space in Europe, Central Asia, and the Middle East,” he added.

Pavališeŭ was among 15 people arrested in May 2021 in the government’s crackdown on tut.by, the country’s biggest media organization at the time, but he was released and pardoned in April 2022 after five months in detention.

IGF forums are held all over the world under UN aegis.

The Barys Zvozkaŭ Belarusian Human Rights House, Belarusian Helsinki Committee, Human Constanta and Pravavaja Inicyjatyva have aligned themselves with the statement. The advocacy groups are based abroad after being forced to flee reprisals in Belarus.