Republic of Belarus: Crushing Civil Society

In his three years in office, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenka has reversed nearly all the advances in the field of human rights, freedoms and democratization that had marked the perestroika era and the post-Soviet period. Indeed, with media forced to abandon critical expression, with public organizations harassed into closure, with the government's systematic attempts to stop public protests and to silence its political opponents, Belarus bears an eerie and increasing resemblance to Soviet society. By all indicators, the government campaign to control civil society is killing it. By employing these methods, President Lukashenka has all but made impossible a peaceful and constructive dialogue on policy among the government, the opposition, the public and NGOs.

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