News

On 8 February 2024, at the Permanent Council of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the Informal Group of Friends of Democracy in Belarus, of which Lithuania is a member, drew attention to ongoing human rights violations by the Belarusian regime, highlighting a new wave of harassment, arrests, and detention.

In its joint statement, the group stressed that for over three years, Belarusian authorities have engaged in a brutal crackdown on opposition figures, civil society representatives, journalists and other media actors, religious communities. Last month saw yet another wave of brutal reprisals, consisting of harassment, arrests, and detention, this time targeting former political prisoners remaining in Belarus, the families of political prisoners, and those who have supported them. Countries noted, that like the brutal post-election crackdowns in 2020, these actions appear to be aimed at intimidating the people of Belarus in the lead up to scheduled parliamentary elections this month.

States called on the Belarusian authorities to immediate and unconditional release all political prisoners and to fully implement their international obligations and OSCE commitments, including by taking all necessary steps to create conditions for free, fair, and genuinely democratic elections. 

In addition, in its joint statement, the group condemned the continued military support provided by Belarus for Russia’s illegal, unprovoked and unjustifiable war of aggression against Ukraine.

The Informal Group of Friends of Democratic Belarus was established in October 2023 by ten OSCE participating States: Canada, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Lithuania, Poland, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States, with the objective of supporting a sovereign, independent, and democratic Belarus that respects human rights and fundamental freedoms and the democratic aspirations of the Belarusian people.

The text of the joint statement can be found here.