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  • Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya’s address at the plenary session of PACE, 2022

    June 21, 2022

    “Dear President Kox,
    Secretary General Burić, 
    Minister Coveney,
    Minister Haavisto, 
    Honourable Members of the Assembly,

    Today we speak about Senator Klich's report on the role of the Council of Europe. It made me think of the man who first publicly proposed the creation of this very organization to unite Europeans around their democratic values: Sir Winston Churchill.

    A few days ago, I watched his address given in Zurich not long after the Second World War. In his speech, Churchill spoke of “The Tragedy of Europe”. How our noble continent, despite all its remarkable achievements, was unable to avoid a series of horribly destructive wars.

    But it was not a speech of despair. Rather, Churchill spoke of hope – that former aggressors and victims could become a new European family united in peace, freedom, and prosperity. That tragedy could be transformed into promise through values-based cooperation in international organizations. Like the one I am addressing today. 

    Nearly eighty years later, we see how right he was. Yet, despite this remarkable progress, the Tragedy of Europe is not yet over.

    The fires of war burn again on our continent. And again voices are heard urging us to appease rather than oppose behavior that is the antithesis of everything this organization stands for. 

    Ladies and gentlemen, we must once and for all end the Tragedy of Europe.

    In Belarus, it is unjust imprisonment, torture, and the death penalty.  

    Dictatorship and censorship.

    Corruption and theft of our national resources. 

    The sale of our sovereignty to maintain power. 

    Hijacking of an international flight to seize active citizens. 

    Abuse of migrants to create chaos on our borders. 

    And the use of our country as a launching pad to attack and threaten our neighbors.

    This is not what we Belarusians want for our country … or for Europe. Our victory in the 2020 election was a message loud and clear: we are Europeans. We want our country back. 

    Back to Belarusians and back to Europe.

    Last year, my address at the European Parliament here in Strasbourg was a warning that the Tragedy of Belarus will become a new Tragedy of Europe if it is not met with a determined, principled, and practical response. In light of events since then, I was right. This message has only become more urgent. Will the Tragedy of Europe continue because good governments give up on their values and fail to act in time?

    Ukrainians have not given up on those values. And they have shown the courage to act. They know that an attack on their sovereignty is an attack on the sovereignty of all. They know that giving the bear a bite only whets its appetite.

    Ukrainians continue to fight and believe as the Tragedy of Europe continues.

    We Belarusians have not given up on those values, either. Our people continue to resist even after widespread crackdowns in the last two years. Some 2000 people have been detained for protesting the war on Ukraine. More than 80 acts of sabotage against the Russian military have been carried out by partisans inside Belarus. And up to 1500 Belarusian volunteers have joined the Ukrainian army. 

    One of them is Tsimur Mitskievich. He was 17 years old when police beat him unconscious in the first days of our peaceful protests in 2020. He was in a coma for a week. His mother died of stress. Our people helped Tsimur to flee to Czechia, where doctors got him back on his feet. This spring he went to defend Ukraine. Tsimur understands that the threat Ukraine faces today is bigger than a threat to just one country. That the fight in Ukraine is a fight “for your freedom and ours”.

    Tsimur, like many Belarusians, continues to fight and to hope as the Tragedy of Europe continues.

    If the aggressors are allowed to prevail, prospects for freedom and security in Europe will diminish substantially. An emboldened empire with more than a foot inside Europe’s door. New threats across the region. New resources to manipulate. 

    If, however, the current threat is contained. If we come together to demonstrate that respect for freedom and human rights are the basis for peace and prosperity, we may yet overcome the Tragedy of Europe.

    In order for that to happen, we must sanction the aggressors that threaten us. At the same time, we must extend a hand of friendship and support to the people of those countries. This is an important distinction: the regimes that do wrong should be punished. At the same time, ordinary people who do right should be encouraged.

    Encouraged because of one simple fact: we belong to Europe.

    Dear ladies and gentlemen, we need to have more Council of Europe in the lives of Belarusians and more Belarus in the Council of Europe. 

    This cooperation should be built along two major avenues – institution building and society development. I am asking the Council of Europe to establish a steering committee on the relations with Belarus. It should be composed of the various bodies of the Council of Europe and representatives of the democratic forces and civil society of Belarus. This group would jointly determine the priority areas of cooperation. It will conceive, prepare, and launch assistance programs and projects and oversee their implementation.

    This is one, but a very concrete and  practical step, and it is also my simple answer to today’s question of the discussion on “what is the role for the Council of Europe”. The role of the Council of Europe is to bring Belarus closer already now.

    Ladies and gentlemen, we have the history of our continent to show us the way. Our values are our strength. And today we must use every bit of our strength to defend those values – for the sake of all of Europe. 

    We have the power to end the Tragedy of Europe once and for all. And to hold out the Promise of Europe to all who aspire to live together in freedom, peace, and prosperity. 

    Let us do it. 

    Thank you! Жыве Беларусь, Слава Украіне, Long Live Europe!”

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