During her visit to Poland for the Warsaw Security Forum, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya also met with the new European Union Special Representative for Human Rights, Kajsa Ollongren.
Ms. Tsikhanouskaya had previously met with Ms. Ollongren when she served as the Minister of Defense of the Netherlands. Back then, they discussed support for Ukraine and Belarusian volunteer fighters.
At the new meeting, Ms. Ollongren and Ms. Tsikhanouskaya discussed:
- the recent political prisoner releases and opportunities for their support, as well as next steps to secure the release of the regime’s hostages;
- measures to assist released political prisoners who are deported from Belarus and find themselves in extremely vulnerable situations;
- potential cooperation within the United Nations.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya called for:
- a comprehensive EU-level solution concerning legal stay and assistance for those released from Belarusian prisons;
- support for both UN mandates on Belarus: the mandate of the Special Rapporteur and the Group of Independent Experts.
Ms. Tsikhanouskaya also spoke about:
- the International Humanitarian Fund;
- the International Accountability Platform for Belarus, which collects evidence of the regime’s crimes, and the Belarusian human rights defenders’ activities;
- Lithuania’s referral of the regime’s crimes to the International Criminal Court;
- the human rights groups’ initiative to bring the regime to account for violations of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya’s husband, Siarhei Tsikhanouski, also took part in the meeting, sharing his prison experience, his forced removal from the country, and the challenges faced by Belarusians abroad. He emphasized the situation of political prisoners who are still held incommunicado.
