EFJ calls on Council of Europe to support Belarusian journalists

The EFJ Gen­er­al Sec­re­tary Ricar­do Gutiér­rez, who was invit­ed to speak on press free­dom by the Com­mit­tee of Min­is­ters of the Coun­cil of Europe on Tues­day in Stras­bourg, called on the 47 mem­ber states of the Coun­cil of Europe to take con­crete actions to end the repres­sion of jour­nal­ists in Belarus. He recalled that accord­ing to the mon­i­tor­ing of the Belaru­sian Asso­ci­a­tion of Jour­nal­ists (BAJ), 159 jour­nal­ists have been arbi­trar­i­ly detained since the fraud­u­lent pres­i­den­tial elec­tions of 9 August.

Ricar­do Gutiér­rez regret­ted that the OSCE has not yet agreed to send an expert mis­sion to Belarus to observe the numer­ous human rights vio­la­tions. He also denounced the wait-and-see atti­tude of the Euro­pean Union, which has still not tak­en any sanc­tions against those respon­si­ble for elec­toral fraud and police vio­lence.

The Sec­re­tary Gen­er­al of the Coun­cil of Europe, Mar­i­ja Pejči­nović Burić, said on Tues­day that she was grave­ly con­cerned about human rights vio­la­tions in Belarus: “I call on the lead­er­ship of Belarus to put an end to these repres­sive devel­op­ments. There is no oth­er way than to engage in fair and open dia­logue with the civ­il soci­ety in view of prepar­ing and con­duct­ing nec­es­sary reforms with no delay.”

Dur­ing Tuesday’s debate in the Com­mit­tee of Min­is­ters, the ambas­sadors of Den­mark, Ger­many, Bel­gium, Fin­land, Esto­nia and the Unit­ed King­dom expressed their deep­est con­cerns about the sit­u­a­tion in Belarus.

“I am delight­ed with these signs of sup­port,” react­ed the EFJ GS. “I call on these States and all those who are con­cerned about the rule of law in Belarus to take con­crete action. A coali­tion of ten OSCE par­tic­i­pat­ing states would be enough to trig­ger the so-called “Moscow Mech­a­nism” and send an urgent expert mis­sion to Min­sk. It is high time to take action!”