Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya completed her working visit to the Netherlands. Within the visit, she met with King Willem Alexander of the Netherlands, Prime Minister Mark Rutte, Minister of Defence Kajsa Ollongren, and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Parliament. Dzianis Kuchynski, Senior Foreign Affairs Officer at Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya’s Office, held meetings at the Ministry of Justice to talk about the Belarusian diaspora, visas, and relocation of repressed businesses.
Here are the results of the meetings in brief:
– The Netherlands will consider assistance to Belarusian medics in Ukraine, including equipment and instruments, as Ms. Tsikhanouskaya handed over a list compiled by the Belarusian Medical Solidarity Foundation. The national leader of Belarus also submitted a list of the Belarus Kastus Kalinouski battalion's needs, mainly protective ammunition (helmets, body armor), equipment, uniforms, and first aid kits.
– The Netherlands reinforced support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Belarus. Ms. Tsikhanouskaya stressed that Russia must withdraw its troops from the Belarusian territory. Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya and the Prime Minister of the Netherlands discussed security guarantees for Belarus, prospects of Belarus’ membership in the EU and the Council of Europe.
– In the coming days, the Dutch Parliament will consider creating a formal or informal Friends of Belarus parliamentary group. Dutch MPs continue the campaign of taking patronage over Belarus’ political prisoners.
– The government will consider proposals from the Belarusian diaspora to simplify procedures for relocation and legalization of Belarusian refugees from Belarus and Ukraine, as well as for renewal of documents without applying to Belarus’ official bodies.
– The Netherlands will check for loopholes used by the regime-linked state-owned enterprises to circumvent sanctions. If there are any left, the Netherlands will close them. A significant part of Belarus’ refined oil exports used to pass through the country.
– The Netherlands will place special emphasis on the persecution of independent trade unions (the Belarusian Congress of Democratic Trade Unions) in Belarus observed in recent weeks. Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya stressed that the regime must face the most serious consequences for the persecution of workers, with the perpetrators of the repressions included in the sanctions lists. Support for the labor movement and trade unions will be discussed in the international union organizations.
– The Netherlands will secure further support for the International Accountability Platform for Belarus. Support for Belarusian human rights defenders will be provided through the Netherlands Human Rights Fund. This year, the Netherlands will also support a number of Belarusian organizations engaged in public and youth activism, economic reforms, and promotion of Belarusian culture.
– Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya held meetings with international human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, Helsinki Committee, Libereco. They discussed clarifying the criteria for the recognition of political prisoners. Ms. Tsikhanouskaya stressed the importance of recognizing the detained Belarusian partisans as political prisoners, including railway saboteurs, as well as exempting cyber partisans targeting cyberspace and other participants of the Belarusian resistance from liability.
– Ms. Tsikhanouskaya and Justice and Peace discussed establishing dedicated shelters for Belarusian refugees, activists, families of political prisoners in the Netherlands and other European countries, as well as rehabilitation programs for released political prisoners.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya also met with the Belarusian diaspora, visited the premises where Belarusian and Ukrainian activists store ambulance cars before sending them to Ukraine, and spoke on Belarus for the Dutch media and at the DeBalie community center.
