Belarus: EFJ Annual Meeting adopted resolution in solidarity with BAJ

On 27 August 2021, the Belarus Supreme Court dis­solved the Belaru­sian Asso­ci­a­tion of Jour­nal­ists (BAJ), the only inde­pen­dent rep­re­sen­ta­tive organ­i­sa­tion of jour­nal­ists and media work­ers in Belarus, as part of the unprece­dent­ed purge against jour­nal­ists, media out­lets, as well as oth­er civ­il soci­ety organ­i­sa­tions.

By adopt­ing this res­o­lu­tion, jour­nal­ists’ organ­i­sa­tions from all over Europe expressed sol­i­dar­i­ty with their col­leagues in Belarus. The EFJ will con­tin­ue to assist BAJ to main­tain its exis­tence and activ­i­ties.

Resolution

1. On the dis­so­lu­tion of the Belaru­sian Asso­ci­a­tion of Jour­nal­ists (BAJ)

Tabled by DJV (Ger­many)

The annu­al meet­ing of the Euro­pean Fed­er­a­tion of Jour­nal­ists (EFJ), meet­ing in Zagreb, Croa­t­ia, on 8–9 Octo­ber 2021,

not­ing that on 27th August 2021 the Belaru­sian supreme court dis­solved the Belaru­sian Asso­ci­a­tion of Jour­nal­ists (BAJ),

not­ing, that this liq­ui­da­tion of the country’s biggest inde­pen­dent jour­nal­ists’ asso­ci­a­tion is the lat­est part of an ongo­ing attack on the free­dom of the press and the free­dom of asso­ci­a­tion in Belarus and leaves jour­nal­ists with one less option to turn to for sup­port,

not­ing, that an inter­na­tion­al coor­di­nat­ed response is required, since Lukaschenko has demon­strat­ed his will­ing­ness to use dras­tic mea­sures and that many oth­er non gov­ern­men­tal organ­i­sa­tions tar­get­ed for dis­so­lu­tion,

The EFJ Annu­al Meet­ing asks the Steer­ing Com­mit­tee:

– to urge the Euro­pean Com­mis­sion and the Euro­pean Par­lia­ment to impose sanc­tions on the regime in Belarus so that BAJ can con­tin­ue its mis­sion;

– to assist BAJ and their mem­bers in con­tin­u­ing their work after the rul­ing of dis­or­gan­i­sa­tion from the Belaru­sian Supreme Court.

– to encour­age EFJ mem­bers to offer vis­it­ing schol­ar­ships to Jour­nal­ists from Belarus that invite them to their respec­tive Coun­try.