Reply to Recommendation
| Doc. 13025
| 18 September 2012
- Author(s):
- Committee of Ministers
- Origin
- Adopted
at the 1149th meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies (12 September 2012). 2012 - Fourth part-session
- Reply to Recommendation
- : Recommendation 1992
(2012)
- Thesaurus
1. The Committee of Ministers informs the
Parliamentary Assembly that the following reply was adopted by a
majority as provided by Article 20 (d) of the Statute.
3. The Committee of Ministers understands the Assembly’s concern
regarding the deteriorating situation of human rights and political
liberties in Belarus. It has transmitted Recommendation 1992 (2012)
to the governments of the member States, asking them to take particular
account of paragraph 2 thereof.
4. At the outset, the Committee of Ministers recalls that its
strategic objective remains the integration of Belarus into the
Council of Europe on the basis of the Organisation’s values and
principles, pursuant to the Declaration of the May 2005 Warsaw Summit.
In this respect, the Committee of Ministers noted some positive developments
in particular of Belarus’s interest in joining Council of Europe
conventions, in engaging dialogue on the question of the abolition
of the death penalty and in the setting-up of the Info-Point in
Minsk.
5. Following the events in the aftermath of presidential elections
that raised serious concerns, the Committee of Ministers called,
in its declaration on the situation in Belarus of 12 January 2011,
for the immediate release of the arrested presidential candidates,
journalists and human rights activists. It also declared that it
will continue supporting the establishment of closer relations between
the Council of Europe and Belarus only on the basis of respect for
European values and principles. The latter required an immediate end
to the oppression of the democratic political opposition, the independent
media and civil society. Significant progress was also requested
on a number of other issues on which the Committee of Ministers
remains – as does the Assembly – concerned, such as freedom of association
and of assembly. Active co-operation with the Venice Commission
and the ODIHR aimed at implementation of their recommendations on
the country’s electoral legislation, an issue notably in view of
the 2012 parliamentary elections and the abolition of Article 193
of the Criminal Code, which criminalises the activity of non‑registered
NGOs and their personnel, are also needed.
6. The Committee of Ministers welcomes the release of former
presidential candidate in the 2010 election, Andrei Sannikaw and
his colleague, Dzmitry Bandarenka, and calls on the Belarusian authorities
to set free all those imprisoned in the aftermath of the presidential
elections of 19 December 2010 along with the others imprisoned for
political reasons and to restore them to their rights.
7. The Committee of Ministers shares the Assembly’s view that
an immediate moratorium on the use of, and the subsequent action
towards abolition de jure of,
the death penalty remain a fundamental prerequisite for greater
co-operation with the Council of Europe. In particular, the Committee
of Ministers, after having called for the sentences passed on Dzmitry
Kanavalaw and Uladzislaw Kavalyow to be commuted, deplored in its statement
of 21 March 2012 that the Belarusian authorities, despite the numerous
calls for clemency from the international community, including the
Committee of Ministers’ own statement of 7 December 2011, had executed
these two persons. The Committee of Ministers reiterates its position
that justice cannot be achieved through the death of further human
beings and that such actions run counter to the common objective
of bringing Belarus closer to the Council of Europe. The Committee
of Ministers continues to urge Belarus to establish a formal moratorium
on executions as a first step towards abolition of the death penalty.
8. The Committee of Ministers takes the view that assistance
to civil society, including independent media, should be maintained
and reinforced. Activities to this end are under way (albeit with
some difficulties as regards their conduct in Belarus) for example
through visits by Belarus NGO representatives to the Council of Europe,
and seminars for civil society representatives on issues of relevance
to the Organisation, as well as through support to the Belarus School
of Political Studies.
9. The Council of Europe Info-Point in Minsk, established as
a joint project between the Council of Europe and the Belarus State
University to promote awareness in Belarus of the Organisation and
its activities, further to an initiative of the Assembly, continues
to function.
10. The Committee of Ministers reiterates its position that stronger
involvement of Belarus in the common European legal space through
commitment to its standards can only be of benefit to the Belarusian
people. The Committee of Ministers recently invited Belarus to accede
to the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking
in Human Beings (CETS No. 197), following a request by the Belarusian
authorities. The Committee also recalls that Belarus acceded to
GRECO in 2011 and joined the Enlarged Partial Agreement on Sport
(EPAS) in 2009. Still more can be done in this respect. Recently,
the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus informed the Secretary
General of the Council of Europe of the interest of his country
in joining the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime (ETS No.
185) and the Council of Europe Convention for the Protection of
the Architectural Heritage of Europe (ETS No. 121). In more general
terms, while noting the wish of Belarus to join a larger number
of Council of Europe’s conventions, the Committee of Ministers would encourage
Belarus in particular to consider joining the European Convention
for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment
or Punishment (ETS No. 126).
11. The Committee of Ministers would finally like to recall that
representatives of the Belarusian authorities are invited to and
participate at the relevant level in some activities of the Council
of Europe, including in the Council of Europe/European Union Eastern
Partnership Facility. The Committee of Ministers reiterates its
call on the Belarusian authorities to take full advantage of their
participation in these co‑operation mechanisms in order to better
apprehend the values promoted by the Council of Europe and to apply
the standards of the Organisation.
