The Belarusian authorities have decided to deprive Belarusians of the only opportunity to protect their rights internationally – the website of the Belarusian parliament has information that deputies will denounce the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. This document establishes the UN Human Rights Committee, which considers individual requests from people whose rights have been violated by the state. Was this body really important to defend the rights of Belarusians and what does this step of the Belarusian authorities mean?

It was the only opportunity for Belarusians to protect their rights

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 1966 is a treaty that enshrines fundamental human rights. The Optional Protocol to the Compact creates an individual complaints mechanism – countries agree to recognize the competence of the UN Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) to consider complaints from individuals who allege that their rights have been violated. The pact was ratified by 173 of the 193 member states of the UN, 116 countries signed the Optional Protocol. Belarus ratified it on January 19, 1992; entered into force on December 30 of the same year. Today’s actions by the Belarusian authorities mean that after the denunciation of the protocol, Belarusians will no longer be able to file complaints about violations of their rights by the Belarusian authorities.

As human rights activist Natalya Satsunkevich from the Viasna human rights center explains, the UNHRC tool was very important for Belarusians and they used it actively: “At some point, Belarus was the leader in the number of individual complaints against her on the committee. rights at the international level.

According to the latest statistics received from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights at the end of 2019, a total of 332 appeals were filed against Belarus, of which 152 were pending consideration, and in 136 cases the Committee considered a breach of the pact.

What complaints did Belarusians file with the UNHRC?

Human rights activists helped Belarusians present appeals to the UN Human Rights Committee. “Most of the appeals were related to the violation of the freedom of peaceful assembly, freedom of expression. We also filed almost all the death penalty cases, if the relatives were not against it. We can also remember two decisions to cancel Viasna’s registration, one complaint about the previous criminal case of the boss “Vesna” by Ales Byalyatsky (now he is also a political prisoner in prison. – Red.). In connection with the latest events after 2020, Viasna lawyers are also helping to file complaints,” says Satsunkevich.

UNHRC decisions generally referred to demands to change legislation, the practice of its application, as well as the payment of compensation to victims, although the committee itself did not define the amount of compensation. However, the Belarusian authorities have always considered the committee’s decisions to be consultative (the consultative nature of the HRC’s decisions is also noted in the Optional Protocol. – Red.) and almost never executed, although human rights activists have long defended the thesis that it is necessary to execute the decisions of the committee, because it indicates a violation of the pact, which must be complied with.

“I only remember one case in the 1990s, when a commission decision was enforced against our colleague from Viasna – he was refunded the fine he had paid, the case concerned the placing of pamphlets on the street. But in the last 10 years , there was no application of the decisions of the committee did not work”, explains Satsunkevich.

Belarus has started withdrawing from “uncomfortable” deals

International lawyer, expert of the Belarusian Helsinki Committee Katerina Deikalo notes that the denunciation of the protocol is not the first case, because Belarus recently announced its withdrawal from the Aarhus Convention: “The fact that Belarus has started to withdraw from agreements that have always been inconvenient for him, “This is a qualitatively new development of the situation. This did not happen in any of the periods of confrontation with the West, the imposition of sanctions. This is public and official evidence that in Belarus a person is the property of the state, whose fate can only be decided by the authorities.”

At the same time, the international lawyer notes that Belarusians still have the opportunity to file a complaint against Belarus: “There is a Committee for the Elimination of Discrimination against Women – recognition of its competence was part of the authorities’ manipulations on the ” welfare state.” But since the recognition of his competence in 2004 he has considered isolated cases in relation to Belarus.”

The authorities did not comply with the decisions of the HRC, but they proved violations of human rights

And while Belarus has not complied with the UNHRC’s rulings, the very fact of appealing there was very important, says Katerina Deikalo. “Yes, in the formal sense, nothing will change with the denunciation – Belarus has not followed the HRC’s decisions before. But the committee’s decisions served as a qualified international acknowledgment of Belarus’ breach of the pact. This created an understanding of where the system was going, what internal processes were going on in it,” she explains.

A similar view is shared by human rights activist Natalia Satsunkevich. “Although the complaint does not change anything now, in the long run it will mean a lot. Belarusians are deprived of the only opportunity to protect their rights, obtain a decision and satisfaction. And ready-made solutions are not bread, they have no expiration date. political will, all Belarusians with decisions in their hands will be able to demand their implementation”, believes Satsunkevich.