VIOLATIONS OF CULTURAL RIGHTS AND HUMAN RIGHTS OF CULTURE FIGURES. MONITORING RESULTS. BELARUS, 2022

MONITORING OF VIOLATIONS OF THE CULTURAL RIGHTS AND HUMAN RIGHTS OF CULTURAL WORKERS. Belarus, 2021

PEN International, Belarus PEN and 23 PEN Centres are highly concerned about the systematic violations of the right to freedom of expression and other human rights that are central to democratic participation of political opponents and dissenting voices in the run-up to the presidential elections in Belarus, to take place on 9 August 2020.

In December 2019, mass gatherings took place in Belarus in defense of the country’s sovereignty. The government responded with a campaign of administrative persecution against the participants of the peaceful rallies. Among those persecuted are writers, bloggers and journalists.

Writer Uladzimir Arlou punished for reading out a literary work

The Board of the Belarusian PEN Centre is deeply concerned over the administrative arrests and fines applied to the participants of peaceful rallies in defence of the independence of Belarus.

The Assembly of Delegates of PEN International, meeting at its 85th annual Congress in Manila, Philippines, 1 to 5 October 2019, is concerned at the continuous stigmatisation of the Belarusian language in Belarus, where the authorities have been seeking to assert the dominance of the Russian language for nearly three decades.

The harassment of renowned writer Paviel Sievaryniec and his fellow activists in Belarus has gone on for too long, and his arrest this week is proof of the continuous threat to freedom of expression.

PEN International and the Belarusian PEN Center strongly condemn the decision to fine editor-in-chief Maryna Zolatava and urge the Belarusian authorities to overturn her conviction, make efforts to improve freedom of expression in Belarus and remove restrictions on Belarusian bloggers and journalists.