Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections

Праваабарончы цэнтр «Вясна» беларускі хельсінкскі камітэт

Special Rapporteur on Belarus Nils Muižnieks: "Elections become a catalyst for human rights violations"

The UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Belarus, Nils Muižnieks, spoke at a special press conference in Vilnius. In his speech, he drew attention to the human rights situation related to the elections.

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Nils Muižnieks

"You may have heard about the event that is held this Sunday in Belarus," Nils Muižnieks began his speech with these words. "Mr. Lukashenka calls this the presidential election in Belarus, human rights activists put an asterisk next to the word 'elections' to emphasize the fabricated nature of this event. Others call it an electoral performance, a special operation, elections without a choice, fake elections. It is not my mandate to define the event that takes place on Sunday. But the human rights situation around this event is my mandate. I have been in this position for about three months now, but I have already met many Belarusians abroad online, in Riga, where I live, in Vilnius, in Warsaw. I have also been to Geneva, and next week I will visit Brussels. I have been analyzing the situation during the first weeks of my mandate. I will focus the first part of my report to the Human Rights Council in Geneva on the right to choose and be elected in regular elections, as well as the human rights situation related to elections. So far, I continue to collect information and data, but today I want to share some preliminary observations with you."

As Nils Muiznieks noted, his predecessor, Anaïs Marin, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Belarus, also devoted several reports to human rights issues, in particular to the UN Human Rights Council. And she noted that elections often become a catalyst for human rights violations in Belarus.

"It was like that then, and it's like that now," Muižnieks said. "Elections become a catalyst for human rights violations. Free elections require freedom of thought, freedom of expression, freedom of the media, freedom of association, freedom of peaceful assembly, and, of course, the technical infrastructure is also needed to hold elections. It is necessary to ensure the transparency of election commissions, the presence of the representatives of different sides, the absence of undue restrictions on candidacy or voting rights, the provision of certain procedural guarantees, and the absence of undue restrictions on election observation.

Belarus has none of these: no rights and no technical infrastructure. Human rights organizations have counted over 1,200 political prisoners in Belarus (as of this week). This is a huge amount for a country like Belarus. It's pretty easy if you look at Belarus — for instance, compare on Google, how many political prisoners there are in Russia or China, and then look at the population, and you'll see that Belarus has a large number of political prisoners per capita by any measure."

The Special Rapporteur also spoke about trends in persecution:

"The persecution continues, there is nothing new in this. Both in criminal and administrative cases of a politically motivated nature. It's new that since the summer, according to reports, some people have been pardoned, about 250, but most of the repression is hidden because people are afraid to talk about it. Journalists, human rights defenders, and others receive little information, and the authorities do not publish much information, either about those persecuted or those released. Therefore, it is difficult to obtain information. And we know the approximate numbers. Sometimes repression is directed at the relatives and friends of victims both inside Belarus and those people who left Belarus. We are aware of some very harsh practices, such as the repeated sentencing or arbitrary continuation of prison sentences, and very often these are transnational in nature. Taking actions against people who left Belarus and live here in Lithuania, or Poland, or somewhere else. Well-known political prisoners are opposition politicians, but also human rights defenders such as Ales Bialiatski, a Nobel Prize winner who has been behind bars for a very long time. The repression is also directed (more and more) at lawyers involved in politically sensitive cases. This week, several events are dedicated to the Day of the Lawyer at Risk, and lawyers in different countries of Europe and North America dedicate this day to their Belarusian colleagues to emphasize how difficult it is to be a lawyer in Belarus today. In a climate of widespread fear and repression, it is very difficult to hold free elections, perhaps even impossible. The situation remains extremely difficult."

The Special Rapporteur also recalled the fact that in 2024 Reporters Without Borders ranked Belarus 167th out of 180 countries:

"That is, almost at the bottom of this list, and the situation has worsened compared to the previous year. The trend is that almost all independent media, websites, and social media pages have been shut down since 2020. Public figures have estimated that 45 journalists and media workers are behind bars. And by the end of 2024, this figure has grown. The authorities use anti-terrorist and anti-extremist legislation to prosecute people for using the media — not only for journalists and media representatives, but also for using the media: for reposts, for stories they liked. Legislation on defamation is applied, and many people are persecuted for insulting their authorities, often for insulting Lukashenka or discrediting Belarus. If the voters cannot independently form their will and receive independent information, the elections cannot be considered free. Freedom of association and assembly in Belarus is severely restricted, with the result that political parties, public organizations, lawyers, trade unions, religious, cultural organizations, and others are all affected.

In 2023, a law was passed according to which all political parties had to undergo re-registration. The re-registration requirements were aimed at clearing the space, and the number of political parties in Belarus decreased from 16 to 4. And all these parties are loyal to the authorities. Representatives of civil society estimate that more than a hundred representatives of civil society are behind bars. We see that the dissolution of public organizations in Belarus continues, but again it is very difficult to track this in detail, since many public organizations have suspended their activities or relocated abroad; sometimes they begin to function as business structures or go underground, so the exact number of organizations still operating in Belarus — I would really question any figures that we see."

Nils Muižnieks also drew attention to the right to peaceful assembly in Belarus, which is "destroyed using all the mechanisms of repression."

"When it is impossible to work in political parties, when it is impossible to participate in public organizations, when it is impossible to gather a peaceful assembly in order to convey information, it is impossible to ensure pluralism and political competition, which is the essence of free elections.

I will not talk about the tactical organization of the elections, because there are very good high-quality reports on this topic, including the Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections campaign, which issues very high-quality reports on the formation of commissions, on the nomination and registration of candidates, and on other aspects. The organization of elections is conducted in such a way that there is no doubt about what the election results may be, and there is no real choice. There will be no independent monitoring of the elections by the OSCE/ODIHR, because they were invited only a few days ago, and they do not work in such conditions. There will be no real public monitoring of the elections. The results of the observation carried out by Mr. Lukashenka's friends and allies cannot be trusted. What will happen on Sunday, regardless of the way it can be called, will not be free and fair. And the human rights situation surrounding the elections is going to be pretty tough."

"I really want to wait for the day when our political prisoners, such as Ales Bialiatski, will be released. I am waiting for the day when the human rights situation improves so that real elections can be held with unpredictable results. I am waiting for the day when the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Belarus will no longer be needed and I will lose this job, although it is not really a job, it is a hobby, a noble hobby. I look forward to the day when the group of independent experts on Belarus — another structure with a UN mandate to ensure accountability for human rights violations that collects data and information — I look forward to the day when they finish their work and those responsible for human rights violations are brought to justice," concluded Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Belarus Nils Muižnieks.