Crushing Freedom in Belarus: Daily Brief

Crushing Freedom in Belarus

With Europe’s – and the world’s – attention focused on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, repression in neighboring Belarus has been put on the diplomatic back burner. That may serve the country’s authoritarian ruler, Aleksandr Lukashenko, but it’s a tragedy for Belarus’s democracy activists and human rights defenders.

Yesterday, a court in Minsk reminded us all too starkly of what the world has been overlooking, by sentencing ten people to long jail terms for peaceful activism.

Maria (Marfa) Rabkova and Andrey Chapiuk, from the leading Belarusian human rights group Viasna, were sentenced to 15 and 6 years’ imprisonment respectively. Eight other Belarusian activists prosecuted in connection with the same case were given prison sentences of 5 to 17 years.

The charges against them were fabricated, the four-month trial was closed to the public, and it can’t be more clear that the prosecution of, and harsh sentences for, Marfa and Andrey are politically motivated retaliation for their human rights work.

The Belarusian government has waged an all-out assault on civil society since peaceful countrywide protests in spring and summer 2020. Authorities have viciously targeted political and civic activists, independent journalists, and human rights defenders, subjecting them to smear campaigns, bogus prosecutions, and ill-treatment in detention.

Still, the extreme cruelty of these latest sentences is especially unnerving, because it suggests the situation in Belarus – now with minimal outside attention – is getting even worse. 

As if to hammer home the point, immediately following the verdict, authorities detained at least 12 of the defendants’ relatives and friends who had gathered outside the court, as well as another prominent human rights defender, Nasta Lojka, whose organization, Human Constanta, the authorities shut down last year.

While Russia’s war crimes in Ukraine obviously merit attention, I hope diplomatic circles at the UN and EU won’t ignore what’s happening next door.

 

Israeli Army Gives Itself Top Grades

The Israeli military has investigated the Israeli military and found that the Israeli military has done nothing wrong.

That’s a quick summary of an internal army inquiry into the killing of prominent Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, gunned down while covering Israeli raids in Jenin in the Israeli occupied West Bank in May. It concluded she was likely to have been unintentionally shot by an Israeli soldier but was not deliberately targeted.

Case closed, they say. Ask no further questions.

It’s hardly the first time we’ve seen something like this. The Israeli military has a long track record of whitewashing grave violations, and victims of Israeli abuses have faced a wall of impunity for years.

These kinds of internal inquiries convince no one. This is why, “independent, international investigations” are vital. With the doors in Israel and Palestine closed to justice, the international community has a significant role to play in ensuring accountability for serious crimes.

 

Brazil’s Lawlessness

On Saturday, Janildo Oliveira Guajajara became the sixth forest guardian to be murdered in Brazil in recent years, shot dead in Amarante do Maranhão, near Araribóia Indigenous land in the state of Maranhão.

Forest guardians are individuals who patrol their local areas in Brazil for illegal logging, and civil police are reportedly now investigating whether this killing – and that of another Guajajara man, Jael Carlos Miranda, on the same day – are related to conflicts with loggers operating illegally in Araribóia.

Human Rights Watch has visited Araribóia several times, and we’ve documented the encroachment by loggers and threats and attacks against Indigenous people for years. We’ve seen how the recent scaling back of environmental law enforcement and the weakening of protection for Indigenous lands has left Indigenous people even more vulnerable to attacks from criminal networks driving deforestation in the Amazon.

It's long past time for the Brazilian authorities to end the lawlessness in the region.

 

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Take Note

(curated today by Alice Autin)

• US commission on Afghanistan has 14 men, 2 women; no experts on women’s rights; and no Afghans (HRW) 
• Worrying development in Lebanese Beirut Blast investigation (Reuters) 
• New UK government has an opportunity to reverse damage on rights (HRW) 
• UN Refugee Agency says UK policy of deportations to Rwanda goes against Refugee Convention (AP)
• The horrors of queer conversion therapy in India (Scroll.in) 
• It’s time to act against air pollution (Inter Press Service New Agency) 

 

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Twitter Space Today: New UK Prime Minister

In yesterday’s Daily Brief, we looked at the issues facing the new UK prime minister, Liz Truss, and asked if she might end the government’s assault on human rights.

We will be discussing the prospects for change with our UK Director, Yasmine Ahmed at 14H00 UK time (13h00 GMT, 15h00 CEST, 09h00 ET) in a TWITTER SPACE – JOIN US!

Note: if you miss the live broadcast of the Twitter Space, that same link still works to find the recording of it.

 

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Reader Questions on Asia

Also in yesterday’s Daily Brief, I highlighted how our Asia Division has a new director, Elaine Pearson, and I asked for your questions to her about our work in the region and her priorities for the coming months and years. One person on Twitter took the opportunity to ask Elaine for a job (!?), but on the serious side, I’ve so far had inquiries related to China, Taiwan, and a few other countries.

We’ll publish the best questions, with answers, next week, so please email me or contact me on Twitter with your interests or concerns.

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