“Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I’ll start with words of gratitude to each of you for your consistency and readiness of taking brave steps to defend democracy and peace in Europe.
I represent here the Belarusian people, who fearlessly fight for their freedom since 2020. In 2020, Belarusians said a decisive "no" to the Lukashenka regime who lost elections and seized power.
Then in 2020, Belarusian people chose democracy over tyranny. People chose openness over isolation. I was supported by Belarusian people to lead my country to new democratic elections.
In response, the regime cracked down on society. It detained 50,000 people destroyed 765 NGOs, and more than 200 media outlets. 1300 political prisoners suffer inhuman conditions and torture, including my husband sentenced to 18 years. Some of them face the death penalty. Hundreds of thousands were forced to flee.
Despite Stalin-like terror, the protest did not die out but went underground. It became even more resilient and creative. Lukashenka did not manage to restore control and get back to business as usual.
One simple thing: The illegal and illegitimate regime in Minsk doesn’t represent the Belarus people anymore.
It’s the regime that led our country to international isolation. Now it gave up Belarus's sovereignty and dragged our country into the mad war in Ukraine despite the will of the people.
It’s because of the regime, Belarusian people were not part of the Council of Europe. I was always ashamed to look on the map of the Council of Europe and see a shameful black hole where Belarus should be.
It’s a high time to change it. It is a high time to rethink the relations between Belarus and the Council of Europe.
So, I have three things to discuss today. First, why we want to build these relations. Second, what this cooperation can and should be about. Third, how we see these formalized relations taking shape.
So, let me start from ”why”.
The short answer is because the people of Belarus belong to Europe and it is our goal for Belarus to join the Council of Europe as soon as possible.
There are two roadblocks on this path. First is that Belarus is right now not a democracy, second is the death penalty. Both these roadblocks will be removed as soon as the fight for democracy prevails in Belarus.
Death penalty will be abolished quickly. The draft constitution that we prepared bans death penalty. But it will be subject to a moratorium even before we adopt the changed constitution.
Right now, three activists face death penalty for their acts of non-violent resistance on the railways that helped to stop the move of Russian troops on Belarus territory. They are heroes, because they might save lives of many. And they did not harm anyone.
Lukashenko needs death penalty as a mechanism to threaten his opponents and punish those who protest against the war in Ukraine.
But we – the people of Belarus – do not need death penalty in our country. It will be abolished quickly when Lukashenka falls.
Dear friends,
The road to democracy will be a more complicated and a longer one, but we hope to get on it already now.
And this is my second point – what do we want to work on with the Council of Europe.
My team is working on the package of reforms already now – a new constitution, election code, law on political parties, the institute of ombudsperson, local governance reforms, and so on.
We want to receive assistance in these reforms already now. We want to learn from your experience. We ask the Council of Europe to share its expertise. We want our draft laws to be reviewed by the Venice Commission. This is about preparing for the future.
We are ready to work with the Council of Europe already now. In your decision from 17 March you point to three specific thematic areas – human rights defenders, independent media, youth. I agree that these are the priorities. I would also add to this list the topics of political participation of women, culture, and support to independent lawyers.
In all of these areas the Council of Europe has unique expertise what we want to learn from. I can give some ideas already now.
On human rights defenders, we want to build the instruments that can help them to do their crucial job from exile.
On independent media – tools are needed to help the journalists in exile or underground cover home affairs and to develop and promote citizen and investigative journalism.
On youth – we do not want to lose the young people in Belarus to apathy. We want them to feel part of the European family, to know and respect the Council of Europe and the values it embodies.
Women have shown their courage and strength in Belarus. We want this to result in their real involvement in politics in democratic Belarus. We need to invest in women activists, experts and politicians already today.
On lawyers, Dozens of them were deprived of their licenses for political reasons. They must not lose their qualifications and leave the profession. They are not only really good lawyers but are also exceptionally brave and honest individuals. They can study from the best, for example at the European Court on Human Rights and the Venice Commission.
Culture plays a crucial role in nation-building. Just look at Ukraine – the national identity bonds the country together against the aggression.
Collaboration in these areas will help us to prepare for the democratic transition in Belarus. And I hope that we jointly will discuss and determine additional areas where the Council of Europe can share its excellent expertise.
In April, we have conducted an assessment of short, medium and long-term needs of the civil society in Belarus along the sectors of human rights, media, youth, culture and businesses.
This was done by my office in collaboration with European Commission. European Union and its Member States pledged up to 60 million Euro per year to the civil society development in Belarus.
We can share this needs assessment with you, but my point is this: there are resources and there is no shortage of needs and ideas of how to meet them.
Excellencies,
I could go on with ideas. There are many things we can do together to bring more Belarus to the Council of Europe and more Council of Europe to Belarus.
Importantly, when I speak of Belarus – I do not mean people in exile. We are in touch with Belarusians in Belarus.
Every day, I am in touch with workers, doctors, teachers, students, and volunteers on the ground. They do amazing things, and they want us to help.
My third point, how do we make it happen.
I am deeply convinced that we need to have predictable, formal, and institutionalized relations.
In May I sent a letter, and two weeks ago I spoke at the Parliamentary Assembly to propose that a steering committee be formed.
The steering committee would determine the priority areas of co-operation, prepare and launch assistance programmes, and oversee their implementation.
This should be a steering committee involving both the Council of Europe bodies and the representatives of Belarus.
When you took a decision in March to suspend relations with official Minsk, you also decided to enhance the cooperation with the “opposition in exile” (we prefer “democratic forces”) and the civil society. You were very right! We want this steering committee to include both the democratic forces and the civil society. Our civil society organizations do not see us as civil society. They see us as political actors and they want to keep us in check. And I actually agree with them.
But this does not mean that we do not work together. We do. We trust each other. And I was asked by our colleagues in the community of human rights defenders, independent journalist organizations, and youth organizations, to pass to you their letter in support of the idea of establishing a joint steering committee.
They want a voice, and they asked me to convey this to you.
Excellencies,
Today, I ask you to consider this proposal of a joint steering committee. The political groups at the Parliamentary Assembly support this, the Secretary General and her staff – we spoke two weeks ago – sees merits in this.
She noted that it is important that the organization remains within its mandate, and I agree with her. I am sure that we can find ways. I also hope you will agree with me: non-convention times need non-conventional solution.
I ask you to remember that the people of Belarus want to be part of the Council of Europe. We cannot stand any longer that Belarus is the black hole on the map of Europe.
We see huge value in the Council of Europe, we want to work with you already now and for the future of our people.
Thank you!”
