Human Rights Developments

Defending Human Rights

The Role of the International Community

Defending Human Rights

While several human rights organizations were active in Belarus, they operated in an openly hostile environment. The high incidence of arrests and beatings at demonstrations, combined with due process violations at subsequent trials of demonstrators, reinforces the need for independent observers. However, the arbitrary nature of arrests at or following demonstrations in Belarus has meant that these observers themselves are arrested. At least six observers from the Belarusian Helsinki Committee (BHC) were detained during demonstrations in 1998, although after varying periods in detention, all, following verification of their identity and role as observers at the demonstration, were released without charge. Police failed to find the perpetrators of an October 1997 assault on former BHC trial observer Nadezhda Zhukova, despite her assailants evident government affiliation; they appeared to be members of the Belarusian Patriotic Union of Youth, a pro-presidential, government-sponsored youth organization that, in its previous incarnation, named Direct Action, openly advocated violence. Human rights activists reported a lack of cooperation from government officials, especially in response to requests for information.