The Belarusian human rights organization Legal Initiative has submitted an official request to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), calling for an investigation under Article 8 of the Optional Protocol to the Convention. PEN Belarus stands in solidarity with our colleagues and publishes their statement below.
We have gathered and presented extensive evidence showing that for many years, serious and systematic violations of women’s rights have taken place in Belarusian prisons, penal colonies, and detention centers — including torture, degrading treatment, and gender-based discrimination. These are not isolated incidents, but part of an entrenched system in which gender-based violence and abuse have become the norm, particularly against women political prisoners.
These violations fall under the definition of discrimination as set out in Articles 1, 2, 3, 5(a), 7, and 12 of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, as interpreted by the Committee in General Recommendations Nos. 19, 24, 28, and 35. Their continuation, combined with the state’s failure to implement CEDAW’s previous recommendations, demands urgent action under the inquiry procedure.
Our appeal is already supported by:
- Human Rights Center Viasna
- Belarusian Helsinki Committee
- Respect-Protect-Fulfill
- Human Constanta
- PEN Belarus
We call on international and national NGOs, human rights experts, and political figures to publicly support this appeal, spread information about the documented violations, and pressure the Belarusian authorities to end torture, ill-treatment, and discrimination against women in places of detention.
You can sign the appeal here:
What we have documented
We collected numerous testimonies from women who had been held in temporary detention facilities, centers for the isolation of offenders, pretrial detention centers, and correctional colonies — including two women-only facilities: Colony No. 4 in Homiel and Colony No. 24 in Zarechcha.
Among the most serious violations:
- Lack of proper hygiene facilities and access to basic sanitary products. For example, women are issued only 6 sanitary pads for 3 days or 10 per month — sometimes none at all; showers are allowed only once a week or less; cells are infested with bedbugs, cockroaches, and lice.
- Humiliating searches and lack of privacy, including forced undressing in front of male staff, open toilets, and constant video surveillance.
- Sexist remarks, jokes about sexual violence, and threats.
- Denial of medical care and essential medications, leading to severe health problems, including damage to reproductive health.
- Public humiliation, including the use of a “shame cage” in Colony No. 4 (a practice not seen in men’s colonies).
- Targeted pressure on women political prisoners — overcrowded cells, constant artificial lighting, no mattresses, bans on receiving parcels, threats, and psychological abuse.
We firmly state: this is a systemic problem
CEDAW has already twice — in 2009 and 2020 — found Belarus responsible for violations of the rights of women in detention. Yet in the past 15 years, the situation has only worsened, especially after the events of 2020.
Mass arrests of women activists, human rights defenders, and journalists continue. As of August 15, 2025, there are 178 women political prisoners in Belarus; in 2024 alone, Belarusian courts heard more than 7,500 politically motivated cases — a quarter of them against women.
Violations are recorded in all regional centers of Belarus and in multiple facilities over many years, indicating that torture and ill-treatment are established practices, perpetuated by the state’s inaction and refusal to comply with UN recommendations.
What we demand
We call on CEDAW to launch an investigation and compel the Belarusian authorities to answer key questions:
- What concrete measures have been taken to end torture, ill-treatment, and gender-based violence?
- How are women’s rights to privacy, medical care, and hygiene ensured?
- Why are women political prisoners held in especially harsh conditions?
- How is the right to safely report abuse and receive help in detention guaranteed?
- Are violations being investigated and perpetrators held accountable?
- What training programs for detention staff exist, and how effective are they?
- How does the state monitor the long-term health consequences of detention for women?