Belarusian Helsinki Committee

Belarusian non-governmental human rights organization

The Belarusian Helsinki Committee (BHC; Belarusian: РПГА «Беларускі Хельсінкскі Камітэт» (БХК)) is a non-governmental human rights organization established in 1995 and in 2007 was the sole remaining independent human rights group in Belarus,^[1] apart from Viasna Human Rights Centre. Its goal is protection of human rights in Belarus in accordance with the Helsinki Accords.

The government fined the organization $73,000 for allegedly unpaid taxes on money received via European Union Tacis Programme grants (2003, overruled by the Supreme Court in 2004) and brought criminal proceedings against officials of the organization, including its chairman Taciana Proćka.^[2]

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.^[3]^[4]^[5]^[6]

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).^[7]

In July 2022, the Belarusian Helsinki Committee received consultative status with the UN ECOSOC, becoming the first Belarusian NGO with such status.^[8]

Literature

Silitski, Vitali; Zaprudnik, Jan (2010). The A to Z of Belarus (The A to Z Guide Series). Lanham: Scarecrow Press. p. 41. ISBN 978-0-8108-7200-4.

References

^ "Belarus: Threat to Close Lone Human Rights Group". Human Rights Watch. 2007-01-31. Retrieved 2007-07-09.
^ "Belarusian Helsinki committee is under threats of being closed". Human Rights House Network. 23 February 2006. Archived from the original on 23 April 2018. Retrieved 4 February 2012.
^ "Report analyses Lukashenko's year-old crackdown on Belarusian journalists". Reporters without borders. 2021-08-05. Retrieved 2021-08-25.
^ "Belarusian Police Target Vyasna, Other NGOs With Raids". Radio Liberty. 2021-07-14. Retrieved 2021-08-25.
^ "Rights groups raided as Belarus pursues crackdown". France24. 2021-07-14. Retrieved 2021-08-25.
^ "Белорусские правозащитники получили предупреждение Минюста" [Belarusian Human Rights Defendants Receive Warrant from Justice Ministry] (in Russian). TASS. 2021-07-30. Retrieved 2021-08-25.
^ В Беларуси ликвидировали Белорусский Хельсинкский комитет. Это предпоследняя зарегистрированная правозащитная организация в стране (tr. "The Belarusian Helsinki Committee was liquidated in Belarus. It is the penultimate registered human rights organization in the country.") 1 October 2021 novayagazeta.ru (in Russian) accessed 18 June 2022
^ «Признание, что для общественной организации нужна не формальная регистрация, а реальная деятельность»