{"id":124174,"date":"2025-01-30T12:24:47","date_gmt":"2025-01-30T09:24:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/124174\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T12:05:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T12:05:06","slug":"un-experts-concerned-over-ill-treatment-of-women-in-belarusian-prisons","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/124174\/","title":{"rendered":"UN experts concerned over ill-treatment of women in Belarusian prisons"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

January 30, Pozirk.<\/em><\/strong> A group of UN experts expressed concerns over the lack of “investigations into allegations of gender-based violence and ill-treatment of women” in the Belarusian prisons, said their statement released yesterday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe conditions of detention for women prisoners in Belarus are appalling,\u201d the statement reads. \u201cWe call on the authorities to immediately launch effective and transparent investigations into all reported cases of abuse and ensure the protection of witnesses from retaliation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Belarusian pre-trial detention facilities are overcrowded, inmates are held in poor hygiene, do not have access to adequate medical care, clean and warm clothing, are subjected to strip searches by both male and female prison guards and are deprived of privacy when using the toilet, the experts said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Female inmates often face arbitrary punishment, such as solitary confinement and incommunicado detention without contact with their children, they added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The experts also pointed out reports of inter-prisoner violence in Homiel’s Penal Colony No. 4, where prison authorities reportedly tolerate and encourage it. They cited a so-called \u201cshame cage\u201d in the colony\u2019s yard where wardens force women to stand for hours in all weather conditions punishing them for alleged misbehaviour. \u201cThis type of punishment is inhuman and degrading in nature,\u201d the experts stressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nils Mui\u017enieks, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Belarus, Alice Jill Edwards, special rapporteur on torture, and members of the working group on discrimination against women and girls signed the statement. They noted that all existing issues have been communicated to the Belarusian government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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