On March 20, 2024, the 55^th session of the UN Human Rights Council heard the 2023 report of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on the situation of human rights in Belarus. This is the third report of the High Commissioner in a row, which concerns the sharp deterioration of human rights situation in Belarus after the fraudulent presidential elections of 2020.

Politically motivated persecution for participating in peaceful demonstrations and enjoying freedom of expression continues in Minsk. The authorities canceled the registration of more than two hundred civil society organizations and independent trade unions, and arrested hundreds of their members and employees for "extremist activities"; None of the opposition political parties has managed to register for the 2024 parliamentary elections.

Accordingly, this year’s report of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights again repeats that the mass and systematic persecution and harassment of the population due to dissent continues, and the crimes committed during these years can in some cases be equated to crimes against humanity.

The number of people forcibly expelled from Belarus and protecting themselves from arrest, persecution or other repressions exceeds hundreds of thousands. According to the data of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia, several tens of thousands of Belarusian citizens have been living in Georgia for years.

Like the last three years, member states of the UN Human Rights Council, under the leadership of the EU member states, again demand the continuation of the examination of human rights violations in Belarus by independent experts. Last year, Georgia abstained from supporting the resolution on the continuation and documentation of human rights violations in Belarus. With this decision, Georgia found itself next to Bangladesh, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Morocco and South Sudan.

Voting on the next resolution will be held in early April 2024. EU member states, the United States of America and their allies support the continuation of the investigation and documentation of human rights violations in Belarus in 2024 as well, as the situation continues to deteriorate.

Improving Georgia's alignment with the common foreign and security policy of the European Union is one of the necessary steps to open negotiations on joining the European Union.

Accordingly, civil society organizations call on the Georgian authorities to support the resolution on the continuation of the investigation and documentation of human rights violations in Belarus.

Democracy Research Institute
Human Rights Center
Rights Georgia
Civil Society Foundation
Social Justice Center
Georgian Young Lawyers Association
Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI)