OSCE Offered To Look Into How Belarus Keeps Its Obligations
By Fyodr Stepanovich
BDG. Delovaya Gazeta
A group of civil society activists spearheading a campaign called “Belarus to Europe” on March 19 delivered a petition to the OSCE Office in Minsk for holding a public hearing on the implementation by Belarus of its OSCE commitments, opposition politician Igor Rynkevich told BelaPAN.
The hearing is necessary because the Belarusian authorities constantly accuse OSCE participating countries of violating the Organization’s fundamental principles, Igor Rynkevich said. “Meanwhile, there are serious reasons to believe that the Belarusian government is far from abiding by its own OSCE commitments,” he noted. “In particular, the Belarusian authorities have repeatedly been criticized by appropriate international and national organizations for direct violations of fundamental OSCE principles, such as respect for human rights and freedoms, democracy and the rule of law, and for ignoring many other human dimension standards,” he noted.
The hearing will be an opportunity for all interested parties to express their views on the obligations of OSCE participating countries and the implementation by Belarus of its OSCE commitments.
According to Igor Rynkevich, Hans Jochen Schmidt, head of the OSCE Office, promised that the proposal would be conveyed to the OSCE secretary general in Vienna.
The hearing should be held no later than May 2008, Igor Rynkevich said. “It will take place in any event,” he noted. “However, we would like at least three parties, namely, the OSCE, the Belarusian foreign ministry and our group, to be represented at the hearing.”
A similar request for public debates was sent to the Belarusian Foreign Ministry on 19 March.
During the meeting with Ambassador Hans-Jochen Schmidt, members of the public initiative also raised the question of enlarging the OSCE’s mandate in Belarus; the problem with Alexander Kozulin’s release, and criminal prosecutions among democratic activists.