BELARUS: Democracy and Civil Society Throttled

By Sanjay Suri Reprint | | Print |

Sanjay Suri

LONDON, Mar 23 2006 (IPS) - The seriously flawed elections in Belarus follow a strong crackdown on civil society, activists say.

”While opposition activists and civil society were under threat prior to 2006, the government intensified its clampdown from December last year,” Julie Middleton, programme communications associate from the CIVICUS Civil Society Watch Programme told IPS.

”The introduction of amendments to the Criminal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure in December further criminalised dissent, making civil society and political activism even more risky,” Middleton said.

”With an obvious intent to restrict critical protest during the elections, the new amendments made criminal various basic rights, such as ‘discrediting the Republic of Belarus’, membership in an unregistered non-governmental organisation, cooperating with international governments or organisations to the detriment of the state, or training people to participate in mass protest actions.”

The elections in this former Soviet republic of 10 million were held Mar. 19. They have been widely condemned as unfair and flawed.

In January, just before the elections President Alyaksandr Lukashenka declared there would be no repeat of the revolutions which have brought about a change of government in Ukraine and Georgia, through movements supported by civil society.

It is civil society that has been targeted continually for its potential to challenge the autocratic rule of Lukashenka.

The amendments to the Criminal Code only further constrained a civil society that has been under attack by the government since 2003.

”In the last three years, almost all critical NGOs in Belarus have been systematically silenced by a series of repressive laws and regulations,” Middleton said. ”Registering a new NGO or legally obtaining foreign aid has become impossible. Most human rights organisations are currently working as unregistered, underground groups.”

The draconian law ‘On Public Associations’ adopted in August 2005 consolidated a series of earlier presidential decrees that restricted the space for civil society to operate, Middleton said. ”In addition, the minister of justice decides whether an NGO should be registered on the basis of a recommendation provided by a special Republican Committee for Registration (Re-registration) of Public Associations, whose members are appointed by President Lukashenka.”

Many NGOs have been liquidated on the basis of simple administrative issues, Middleton said.

”Some have lost their registration because their internal meeting minutes feature a shorter version of the association’s name, or because a word in the NGO’s seal uses a lower-case letter where it should be a capital letter,” Middleton said.

”Numerous governmental authorities, from the Ministry of Justice down to taxation agencies, have the right to conduct regular and extraordinary audits of NGO activity. Often such audits result in the liquidation of a NGO in court. NGOs are not allowed to establish their offices in privately-owned apartments or houses, they must always be non-residential premises most of which are owned by state agencies or state-controlled companies.”

One NGO that has stood its ground is VIASNA, a partner organisation of CIVICUS. VIASNA has lost its registration, but the organisation continues to be one of the most active human rights organisations in the country. It operates 17 offices across Belarus, with lawyers in each of them. Their staff and members often face threats and harassment.

Another group, the Foundation for Legal Technologies, has also been carrying on independent work in the interest of rights in a difficult and often hostile official environment.

With this kind of build-up against civil society, few have thought the elections fair. The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) have said that the election was severely flawed, due to arbitrary use of state power and systematic restrictions of basic rights to freedom of expression, assembly and association.

Opposition politicians and activists, along with civil society organisations and activists were consistently harassed in the period leading up, during, and now following the election period, CIVICUS reports.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, members of the press have also been threatened, detained and arrested, foreign journalists have been denied entry into Belarus and entire print runs of publications have been seized by the authorities.

According to VIASNA, prior to and during the election process the Belarusian authorities brought 16 criminal cases against 21 public and political activists, representatives of headquarters of democratic candidates, NGOs and youth movements, eight of whom are currently in jail.

Several days before the election, authorities arrested opposition activists across the country. In all, about 100 people were imprisoned for short-term sentences.

In the circumstances, ”civil society has a critical role to play in Belarus, in both demanding and supporting democracy and the rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly,” Middleton said.

”The current government sees a strong civil society as a threat to their rule, and so has implemented scathing legal restrictions over the past few years, essentially eliminating the legal status of almost all critical human rights NGOs. However, as they have demonstrated throughout the last few years, and especially during this election period, civil society in Belarus will not be silenced, despite harsh legal restrictions, harassment and even threats of imprisonment.”

Although civil society was all but eliminated throughout 2003 and 2004, and most NGOs operate without registration, or illegally as the government sees it, civil society continues to function, CIVICUS says.

”NGOs are still able, although they are subject to arbitrary crackdowns, to circulate information about their activities and organise events,” Middleton said. ”Because of this little remaining freedom, civil society has been at the forefront of demanding change and respect for human rights.”

The denial or rights has inevitably aligned many civil society groups closely with the opposition.

”Because of the environment in Belarus, civil society are naturally forced to side with the opposition parties, although most remain independent,” Middleton said. ”There is a thin line between ‘public’ NGO activists and ‘political’ activists as human rights organisations speak out against the actions of the government in power.”

”The opposition protests which have been held in Minsk during the last few days have been initiated by opposition leaders, but have become a venue for all, including civil society, to express their discontentment with the election process and general repression of freedom in Belarus.”

But the alignment between civil society and the opposition cannot become too close, Middleton said. ”While the opposition and civil society often supports each other, civil society’s detachment from party politics is essential to ensure their ability to comment on political processes from a relatively independent position.”