Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya commenced her visit to the United States by participating in a debate on political prisoners on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, organized by the EU Delegation together with Estonia, Lithuania, Spain, Germany, and France. Diplomats and representatives from more than 30 countries attended the debate, with the foreign ministers of Lithuania and Estonia, the state secretaries of France and Germany, as well as ambassadors from several other countries delivering speeches.
In her address, Ms. Tsikhanouskaya emphasized the catastrophic situation in Belarus, urging UN intervention. She proposed the following practical steps:
📌 Urging the UN Secretary-General and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to raise the issue of political prisoners with Lukashenka.
📌 Demanding that the UN Office in Belarus or humanitarian organizations gain access to political prisoners.
📌 Exploring diplomatic channels for prisoner exchanges, similar to the Krasikov case or the exchange of POWs with Ukraine.
📌 Initiating UN Security Council Arria-formula hearings to discuss Belarus, addressing both security and humanitarian aspects.
📌 Raising the issue of political prisoners in UN debates and resolutions, demanding their release and rehabilitation.
📌 Discussing the issue of political prisoners with or within the OSCE and ODIHR at the upcoming Human Dimension Conference in Warsaw next month.
📌 Supporting the International Accountability Platform for Belarus to hold perpetrators to account and the International Humanitarian Fund to support the repressed.
📌 Making any cooperation with the regime conditional on practical changes, including the release of political prisoners and the cessation of repression.
📌 Engaging the regime’s partner countries that have leverage and can contribute to the release of political prisoners.
