Representatives of Belarusian HR defence organizations, the Office for the rights of persons with disabilities is one of them, support the approval of the Interdepartmental plan on realization of recommendations adopted by the Republic of Belarus based on the results of the second cycle of periodical review in the UN Human Rights Council and recommendations for Belarus made by human rights treaty bodies for 2016-2019.
“We underline our commitment to common positions claimed by representatives of Belarusian HR defence organizations in 2015-2016: An open statement on top priority measures of reinstatement character from December 10 2015; The coordinated position of HR defenders concerning priorities in defining strategies of cooperation of international partners with Belarus from January 28, 2016; Joint position of Belarusian HR defenders before the next round of Dialogue on human rights EU-Belarus from May 24, 2016. We consider that the adopted Interdepartmental plan can become an effective tool for improvement of the situation with human rights in Belarus but we consider that it is necessary to amend it taking into account proposals of Belarusian HR defence organization and recommendations by UN treaty bodies which will be addressed to the Republic of Belarus in the nearest future by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, the Committee against Torture and the Human Rights Committee”.
Let us remind that Belarusian HR defence organizations in May 2016 had prepared and presented to the Ministry of International Affairs indicators of fulfillment of the recommendations adopted by the Republic of Belarus in the frames of the second cycle of UPR. Till now the proposals haven’t become a subject for inclusive discussion by the responsible state bodies. The analyses of the Interdepartmental plan shows that out of 22 topics on which the coalition of Belarusian HR defence organizations made its proposals only 17 are taken into account. A number of activities of the Interdepartmental plan which although partially take into account proposals by HR defence organizations are of an inconcrete character and do not presuppose any results and are not able to improve the situation with human rights in Belarus.
As one of the significant shortcomings HR defence organizations mention the absence in the Interdepartmental plan of events aimed at the fulfilment of recommendations in such important spheres of human rights as freedom of speech and association, religious freedoms and social-economic rights. Experts consider that it is important in future to work on amendment of the plan and to include in it events aimed at the realization of recommendations on the abovementioned topics addressed to the Republic of Belarus in the frames of UN mechanisms.
