Good Afternoon, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
First, let me thank all of your countries present in this room for being here and standing with Belarusians.
I wish to thank personally Ambassador Mike Carpenter, but also delegations of the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, Lithuania, Poland, Sweden, France, Denmark, and Estonia for co-hosting this discussion.
I understand that changes in Belarus are the task of Belarusians themselves. But with such powerful allies, we will be able to walk the path to freedom faster.
In 2020, electoral fraud in Belarus got out of hand. It was not new that the elections were stolen, but in 2020 our people had enough. The OSCE never recognized the elections in Belarus as democratic. OSCE is well aware of the human rights violations in Belarus.
But since 2020 the situation has gotten much worse. Peaceful protests of 2020 were violently suppressed, but the people still desire change. Our citizens want to live in democracy. They clearly see the difference between a dictatorship that leads to war and a democracy that is about peace and security.
I want to underscore today that human rights and democracy are essential pillars of security.
The case of Belarus is a brilliant example of how human rights violations undermine our collective security. The falsification of elections in 2020 led to the forced landing of the RyanAir flight in May 2021. Electoral fraud also led to the orchestrated migration crisis on the borders of the European Union. The regime in Belarus weaponized migrants, instrumentalized them, and treated them inhumanely. Electoral fraud led the regime in Minsk to the embrace of the Russians. The regime became an accomplice of the Russian Federation in its aggression against Ukraine.
The people of Belarus disagree with all this. Lukashenka does not have a mandate to do all this. He does not act on behalf of the people of Belarus. He continues to pose a threat to European security.
This is why the OSCE has an obligation to act on the current situation in Belarus. I want to speak today about what can be done. I want to be specific and concrete. And I want to propose all of these topics for the consideration of the Group of Friends of Democratic Belarus.
First of all, we are grateful to all OSCE participating States for launching the Vienna and Moscow mechanisms. Reports under the Moscow mechanisms are essential for establishing the truth of what is happening. But reports should not be the endpoint – they should inform action.
I must note that the OSCE executive structures have not done much about the crisis in Belarus. I want to urge the ODIHR and the Secretariat to exercise their existing mandates. They do not need to request any additional permission or clearance from the participating States. They have their mandates and should exercise them.
ODIHR and the Secretariat should request, in the strongest terms possible, to visit political prisoners in Belarus. Why has the OSCE not requested publicly to visit 2022 Nobel Prize Winner Ales Bialatski in prison? There are many others whose conditions of detention deserve immediate attention.
We urge ODIHR to request access to the continuing trials in Belarus. ODIHR has substantial experience in trial monitoring and good methodology for this.
Importantly, these requests should be made publicly. Confidential letters are not enough. If you are denied access, make these responses public. Only the regime in Minsk should be ashamed of not cooperating.
Second, the Ukrainian children.
There’s ample evidence of crimes against Ukrainian children, committed since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The National Anticrisis Management team collected enough evidence to prove that Lukashenka’s regime was instrumental in those crimes. The state-owned company Belaruskali conducts the transfers, and the kids live at the Belaruskali-owned camp. The transfers began in 2022, and, by the end of May 2023, at least 2150 children have been brought to Belarus.
The International Criminal Court has jurisdiction over alleged crimes committed in Ukraine by Russia, although neither Ukraine nor Belarus and Russia are State Parties to the Rome Statute. We ask our partners to help us hold Lukashenka liable for those war crimes and bring him to justice.
The Group of Friends in the OSCE can play an important role in highlighting this topic and making sure that Lukashenka and his accomplices are accountable for these crimes.
Third, the referral to the ICC.
There is a legal option available to extend the jurisdiction of the Court to at least some of the crimes against humanity committed by Lukashenka and his accomplices against Belarusians. Right now, there are thousands of victims who have faced deportation (within the meaning of the Rome Statute) in the countries parties to the Rome statute (such as, for example, Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia). We ask those countries to make a referral to the ICC prosecutor general. This would greatly contribute to our common deed of bringing Lukashenka and his cronies to justice.
The Group of Friends in the OSCE can provide these countries with its important backing.
Fourth: Universal justice
We ask for your support in helping Belarusians who fled to the EU to file criminal cases on the grounds of universal jurisdiction. Criminal cases on torture in Belarus have already been initiated in Lithuania and Poland. To help Belarusians achieve justice, we ask our partners to clarify the scope of crimes that fall under universal jurisdiction. We hope that you can help to clearly define the types of crimes that can be prosecuted under the principle of universal jurisdiction, including torture and crimes against humanity. The next step could be to review domestic laws to ensure they provide a strong legal basis for prosecuting international crimes under universal jurisdiction.
The Group of Friends can work with international lawyers to advise participating States.
Fifth, I want to focus on the nearest future.
The regime is planning to conduct elections in 2024. In the situation when human rights are not respected, when there is no political pluralism, the elections will be a farce.
I know that, if you are invited to observe, – and there is a very small chance of that, – ODIHR may need to send the Needs Assessment Mission to Belarus. We urge this possible mission to conclude that there is no point in observing the upcoming elections – there are no conditions for the elections. There is no appetite for dialogue. ODIHR should not waste its resources on observing this farce.
Lastly, I want to thank you for this opportunity to speak today. I want to especially thank you for the formation of the Group of Friends. The people of Belarus will appreciate your desire to do more, to explore possible ways for the OSCE to be useful. These days, multilateralism is in crisis – but international organizations are as useful as their members make them.
With such friends as you, we have good hopes for the democratic future in Belarus. And we have good hopes for the bright future of the OSCE.
