GENEVA: The UN Group of Independent Experts in its report concludes that the government of Belarus committed widespread human rights violations against the country’s civilian population, some amounting to crimes against humanity.
The group in its first report released on Friday said the crimes are part of a brutal effort to quash all opposition to the rule of President Aleksandr Lukashenko.
“Among the most egregious violations documented are arbitrary arrests and detention on politically motivated grounds, which have become a fixture of the tactics of Belarusian authorities,” it added.
The report found that men and women in detention had been routinely subjected to torture and ill-treatment, including beatings, electric shocks and rape threats.
The violations, it said, were widespread, systematic, and directed against civilians critical of the Government. The Group of Experts found that there were reasonable grounds to believe that some violations amount to crimes against humanity of imprisonment and persecution on political grounds.
“Those detained in penal colonies have been subjected to a particularly discriminatory treatment designed to punish them, which more broadly serves to crush political resistance. Many have been arrested multiple times, including immediately after being released for the first time,” said the report.
In 2024, the government implemented measures that eliminated most sources of dissent and opposition. Law enforcement agencies now possess advanced digital surveillance capabilities, allowing them to monitor individuals’ online activities, frequently resulting in prosecutions. Additionally, in 2024, at least 228 civil society organisations were dissolved.
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The Group of Experts reiterates the significance of judicial and non-judicial accountability. It said identifying and prosecuting perpetrators of human rights violations and crimes against humanity is key to ending Belarus’s culture of impunity and integral for the victims to receive justice.
It is pertinent to mention that the Group of Independent Experts on the Human Rights Situation in Belarus was established by the Human Rights Council on 4 April 2024 to investigate and establish the facts, circumstances and root causes of all alleged human rights violations and abuses committed in Belarus since 1 May 2020.
