Drawn up by the independent expert Prof. Hervé Ascensio (France) within the framework of the OSCE Moscow Mechanism, which was invoked on 23 March 2023 by 38 OSCE participating States including Italy, the Report on the serious threat to the OSCE human dimension in Belarus since 5 November 2020 was presented today to the OSCE Permanent Council.
The report provides a detailed analysis of the legislative and administrative measures taken by the Belarusian authorities and further describes the numerous human rights violations committed in Belarus since 2020, aiming to “prevent any form of opposition or, more simply, any alternative”. It includes recommendations to Belarusian authorities and the international community, with a particular focus on the urgency of releasing political prisoners on humanitarian grounds.
In his national statement, Min. Plen. Massimo Drei called on the Belarusian authorities to embrace the report’s recommendations and end the repression. He also expressed his deep admiration and respect for the courage and determination of those who – amid harsh repressions and intimidation – continue to pay the price for the promotion of human rights and the rule of law in the pursuit of a free and democratic society.
The Moscow Mechanism was established during the Moscow Conference on the Human Dimension in 1991 as a tool to monitor the implementation of commitments undertaken by participating States in the field of human rights and democracy (human dimension) by setting up ad hoc missions of independent experts backed by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR). To date, the Moscow Mechanism has been invoked fourteen times. The report presented today is a follow-up to a similar report on the human rights situation in Belarus in 2020.
