The European Union Delegation to the UN, in partnership with Denmark, Germany, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya’s Office, held a roundtable discussion titled “Time for Accountability and Justice: Rule of Law under Threat in Belarus” during the 80th UN General Assembly. It was moderated by the Secretary-General of the European External Action Service, Belén Martínez Carbonell. More than 40 representatives from the foreign ministries of Denmark, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Iceland, Germany, and other countries participated in the event.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya delivered a speech, addressing the situation with political prisoners and tools for holding the perpetrators of crimes accountable. Ms. Tsikhanouskaya also mentioned Ales Bialiatski, who recently spent his fifth birthday behind bars, and called for his immediate release.
In addition, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya proposed:
- supporting Lithuania’s referral of the regime’s crimes to the International Criminal Court;
- conducting Arria-formula meetings of the UN Security Council;
- adopting a resolution in the UNGA Third Committee;
- supporting the work of human rights defenders, the International Accountability Platform for Belarus, and the International Humanitarian Fund.
The following officials spoke at the event:
- European External Action Service Secretary-General, Belén Martínez Carbonell;
- Estonian Undersecretary for Global Affairs, Minna-Liina Lind;
- Danish Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, Sandra Jensen Landi;
- Director of the UN Department of Lithuania’s MFA, Rasma Ramoškaitė;
- German Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, Thomas Zahneisen;
- Latvian Permanent Representative to the UN, Sanita Pavļuta-Deslandes;
- Head of the International Accountability Platform for Belarus (IAPB), Andrea Huber.
Representatives of the expert community also spoke, including those from Freedom House, iSANS, and the Coalition for the Release of Political Prisoners.
Several documents were presented during the event:
- iSANS report “Transnational Repression in Belarus: A Brutal Tool of the Persecution of Dissent by the Lukashenka Regime”;
- “Red Paper: EU–Belarus Security Framework 2025”;
- BelPol report “The Lukashenka Regime’s Involvement In Russia’s Aggression Against Ukraine”.
