{"id":43614,"date":"2022-09-05T17:21:12","date_gmt":"2022-09-05T14:21:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/api.pozirk.online\/articles\/belarus-virtually-criminalized-human-rights-advocacy-ngos-say\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T20:29:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T20:29:13","slug":"belarus-virtually-criminalized-human-rights-advocacy-ngos-say","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/43614\/","title":{"rendered":"Belarus virtually criminalized human rights advocacy, NGOs say"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>September 5, <span>BPN.<\/span><\/b>&nbsp;The Belarusian authorities&#8217; effort to shut down&nbsp;all independent human rights organizations has led to &#8220;a de facto criminalization&#8221; of human rights advocacy,&nbsp;19 human rights groups said in a joint statement, anticipating a guilty verdict in the trial of Viasna Human Rights Center activists Marfa Rabkova and Andrej \u010capiuk. <\/p>\n<p> \u201cThe reprisals against Viasna and its members are part of a broader crackdown on civil society in Belarus,\u201d the joint statement reads. \u201cIn 2021 alone, the authorities shut down more than 275 human rights and other independent organizations, leaving not a single one legally operating human rights NGO in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n<p> In addition, according to the statement, amendments to the Criminal Code adopted in December 2021 reintroduced heavy punishment&nbsp;for \u201cacting on behalf of unregistered or liquidated organizations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p> \u201cThe rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly, enshrined in international human rights instruments, including in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, ratified by Belarus, have been severely and continuously violated by the authorities in recent years, which has had a chilling effect on civil society in the country,\u201d international human rights activists said.<\/p>\n<p> The signatories condemned the persecution of Rabkova and \u010capiuk, as well as of other human rights defenders: Ale\u015b Bialacki, Valancin Stefanovi\u010d, U\u0142adzimir \u0141abkovi\u010d, Leanid Sudalenka and Ta\u0107ciana Lisica. They called for their immediate and unconditional release.<\/p>\n<p>The statement was signed by the Belarusian Helsinki Committee, the Barys Zvozska\u016d Human Rights House, Amnesty International, ARTICLE 19, \u0421enter for Civil Liberties, Civil Rights Defenders, FIDH, Front Line Defenders, Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, Human Rights House Foundation, Human Rights Watch, International Partnership for Human Rights, Libereco, Netherlands Helsinki Committee, Norwegian Helsinki Committee, O\u0308stgruppen, People in Need, Right Livelihood, and World Organization Against Torture.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>September 5, BPN.&nbsp;The Belarusian authorities&#8217; effort to shut down&nbsp;all independent human rights organizations has led to &#8220;a de facto criminalization&#8221; of human rights advocacy,&nbsp;19 human rights groups said in a joint statement, anticipating a guilty verdict in the trial of Viasna Human Rights Center activists Marfa Rabkova and Andrej \u010capiuk. \u201cThe reprisals against Viasna and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":0,"template":"","rubric":[16],"class_list":["post-43614","articles","type-articles","status-publish","hentry","rubric-politics"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Belarus virtually criminalized human rights advocacy, NGOs say | Pozirk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"September 5, BPN.&nbsp;The Belarusian authorities&#039; effort to shut down&nbsp;all independent human rights organizations has led to &quot;a de facto\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/43614\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta 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