Today, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya addressed the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the US Congress House of Representatives at a hearing “Women Leading the Way: The Democratic Movement in Belarus”. The head of the Subcommittee on Europe, Energy, Environment, and Cyber Bill Keating chaired the hearing. Chris Smith, a member of the Committee and author of the Act on Democracy, Human Rights and Sovereignty of Belarus, also spoke at the hearing.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya:
– thanked the Congressmen and the US government for supporting Belarusian people, for the adoption of the Act on Democracy, Human Rights and Sovereignty of Belarus, and for the imposing sanctions against accomplices of Lukashenka's regime;
– told about the mass political repression against the Belarusian people, human rights organizations, independent media, as well as about the murdered peaceful protesters, including Aliaksandr Taraikouski, Raman Bandarenka;
– shared the stories of the courageous Belarusian women peacefully fighting for freedom in the country: Nina Bahinskaya, Volha Khizhynkova, Alena Leuchanka, Darya Chultsova, Katsiaryna Andreyeva;
– spoke about the ongoing protests, solidarity actions, and creative forms of resistance to the regime;
– called on the United States to increase the pressure on the regime and to isolate it diplomatically, to impose sanctions against Lukashenka’s “wallets” and the judicial authorities that carry out repressions;
– called for more assistance to the Belarusian civil society, human rights defenders, independent media, and business;
– urged to support the international mediation on the OSCE platform as an optimal exit of the Belarusian crisis.
After Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya's speech, the congressmen representing the subcommittee asked the leader of democratic Belarus a number of questions on the situation in Belarus. The politicians were interested in the future strategy of Tsikhanouskaya's Office, in the current situation with the Belarusian peaceful protests, concrete steps to help Belarusians the US Congress can take, in the ways of supporting independent media in Belarus, how Belarusians cope with the pandemic under the dictatorship, and how Americans can join the celebration of Freedom Day on March 25. US politicians expressed support for Belarusians and their peaceful fight for freedom and democracy.
“We are dealing with a human rights crisis of unprecedented proportions but the people still resist,” Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya stressed.
Hearings in the US Congress increase the visibility of the issue in discussion, set the tone for the discussion of a specific problem among the US political elite, and are an authoritative source for shaping US foreign policy.
The full text of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya's testimony at the hearing is available here.
