This Week in Human Rights News

Women activists in Belarus are facing human rights violations

Sources: United Nations, DW, Radio Free Europe, Amnesty International, France24, Belsat, Coalition for Women in Journalism

A recent UN report by Dr. Anaïs Marin (University of Warsaw, Poland) has found that women activists in Belarus continue to face human rights violations. Dr. Marin collected her information through public statements, eyewitness accounts, and diplomatic and UN Human Rights reports after her request to officially visit the country was not answered.

“Threats, intimidation, harassment by the tax inspection authorities, searches and arrests or forced expulsions [of women human rights defenders] have multiplied in 2021”, the report said.

The report also detailed that in cases of detention, women human rights defenders were subject to threatening and abusive language, sexual assault, and ‘enforced disappearances’ for those who had participated in peaceful protests. 

Jailed women journalists, such as Katsiaryna Barysevich, have also faced high risk in their professions and have been persecuted for reporting on events in Belarus. Barysevich was arrested and served a six month sentence from November 2020 to May 2021 after reporting factual details on the murder of a protest activist.

In September 2021, independent Belarusian television channel Belsat reported that the homes of women tied to environmental organisations had been searched. Yanina Menikava, editor-in-chief of Green Portal, a media project that reports on the environmental movement in Belarus, was arrested and detained for three days. 

Belarus’ president, Aleksandr Lukashenko, has often been called ‘Europe’s last dictator’. He has served six terms as president since 1994, his most recent term started after winning re-election in 2020, which was followed by large-scale protests. France24 reported on the re-election, stating that ‘foreign observers have not judged an election to be free and fair in Belarus since 1995’.