Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya participated in the Warsaw Human Dimension Conference, which is held annually in Warsaw and brings together diplomats, government officials, and representatives of civil society from the 57 OSCE member states. It is the largest forum in Europe on issues of democracy and human rights.
Together with representatives of the United Transitional Cabinet Pavel Latushka and Volha Harbunova, as well as Advisor on Legal Affairs Kristina Rikhter, Ms. Tsikhanouskaya took part in discussions on accountability for the Lukashenka regime. In particular, one discussion focused on the role of international organizations in bringing justice to Belarus, while the other one focused on the narrower subject of the role of Belarusian human rights defenders.
US Ambassador to the OSCE Michael Carpenter started the event by launching a group of Friends of Democratic Belarus in the OSCE, which includes representatives from 10 states. The ambassador noted that the group will expand.
In her speech during the first discussion, Ms. Tsikhanouskaya noted that human rights and security issues are interconnected, and Belarus is an example of this. She welcomed the establishment of the group and outlined four priorities for the work of the OSCE and the new group. The Belarusian leader called for holding the Lukashenka regime accountable for its involvement in the displacement of Ukrainian children and referring the case to the International Criminal Court to investigate crimes against humanity, torture, and repression in Belarus. The Belarusian leader emphasized that the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights must demand the release of political prisoners and access to them in prisons, including to Nobel laureate Ales Bialiatski. She also called on OSCE countries to launch probes within universal jurisdiction against perpetrators of human rights violations.
Another topic of discussion was the so-called “election” in Lukashenka’s parliament scheduled for 2024. Ms. Tsikhanouskaya called this “election” a farce and urged the international community not to recognize it. Additionally, she called for an OSCE mission to Belarus to assess the possibility of holding a fair election. She noted that the only conclusion that the OSCE can come to is that a fair election is impossible in today’s Belarus.
During the second event at the forum, Ms. Tsikhanouskaya discussed the work of Belarusian lawyers, human rights defenders, and NGOs. She outlined three main directions for their work: 1) collecting data on crimes committed by the Lukashenka regime, 2) presenting evidence of crimes to international courts, and 3) promoting the issue of holding the regime accountable through special tribunals and the International Criminal Court.
