The Belarusian Helsinki Committee (BHC; ) is a
non-governmental
A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...
human rights
Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...
organization established in 1995 and in 2007 was the sole remaining independent human rights group in
Belarus
Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...
, apart from
Viasna Human Rights Centre
The Viasna Human Rights Centre () is a human rights in Belarus, human rights organization based in Minsk, Belarus. The organization aims to provide financial and legal assistance to political prisoners and their families, and was founded in 1996 ...
. Its goal is protection of
human rights in Belarus
The government of Belarus is criticized for human rights violations and persecution of non-governmental organisations, independent journalists, national minorities, and opposition politicians. In a testimony to the United States Senate Commi ...
in accordance with the
Helsinki Accords
The Helsinki Final Act, also known as Helsinki Accords or Helsinki Declaration, was the document signed at the closing meeting of the third phase of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE) held in Helsinki, Finland, betwee ...
.
The government fined the organization $73,000 for allegedly unpaid taxes on money received via
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
Tacis
TACIS is an abbreviation of "Technical Assistance to the Commonwealth of Independent States" programme, a foreign and technical assistance programme implemented by the European Commission to help members of the Commonwealth of Independent States ( ...
Programme grants (2003, overruled by the Supreme Court in 2004) and brought criminal proceedings against officials of the organization, including its chairman
Taciana Proćka.
In 2021 BHC became one of the victims of
Alexander Lukashenko's nationwide repressions against independent media and human rights organizations in the wake of the
Belarusian protests. Its office was raided several times, then sealed by the police. The Justice Ministry requested documents, that were kept in the inaccessible office, and issued a warrant on the same day as the request. Two warrants in a year allow the Ministry to initiate liquidation process.
On 1 October 2021, the Belarusian Helsinki Committee was forcibly liquidated by the Supreme Court. The court used materials of some unspecified criminal case (probably with no verdict passed so far) to dissolute the BHC. BHC was the penultimate registered human rights group in Belarus (the last one is ''Pravovaya iniciativa'' — The Legal Initiative, which is under of liquidation too).
In July 2022, the Belarusian Helsinki Committee received consultative status with the
UN ECOSOC
The United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) is one of six principal organs of the United Nations, responsible for coordinating the economic and social fields of the organization, specifically in regards to the fifteen specialized ...
, becoming the first Belarusian NGO with such status.
«Признание, что для общественной организации нужна не формальная регистрация, а реальная деятельность»
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See also
*Viasna Human Rights Centre
The Viasna Human Rights Centre () is a human rights in Belarus, human rights organization based in Minsk, Belarus. The organization aims to provide financial and legal assistance to political prisoners and their families, and was founded in 1996 ...
*Helsinki Committee for Human Rights
Helsinki Committees for Human Rights exist in many European countries (and in the wider OSCE region) as volunteer, non-profit organizations devoted to the protection of human rights. It was presumably named after the Helsinki Accords. It was for ...
Literature
*
References
External links
BHC home page
Human rights organizations based in Belarus
{{Humanrights-stub
Organizations established in 1995