EU-verklaring over vertrek OVSE-ambassadeur uit Minsk (en)

(07/07/05)

Permanent Council No. 562

The European Union warmly welcomes Ambassador Heyken to this, his last appearance at Permanent Council as Head of the OSCE Office in Minsk, and thanks him for his report.

We highly appreciate the work of the Office, which we view as professional and in full conformity with its mandate. We appreciate its balanced reporting activities and encourage the Office to continue this important work.

We take note of the important visits to Minsk undertaken by the Coordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities, the Representative on Freedom of the Media, and the Special Representative on Combating Trafficking in Human Beings. We hope that these visits will bring positive results in their respective areas of competence.

We note with satisfaction that some of the Officeâ€Ös projects have been carried out successfully. However, we are concerned that the approval and registration procedures introduced in October 2003 continue to cause the Office difficulties in implementing its projects.

We urge the Belarusian authorities to streamline these procedures to allow for the timely implementation of projects and efficient use of funding allocated to the projects.

We appreciate the activities of the Office concerning contacts between the Belarusian Parliament and the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly. We regret that the seminar on the European Neighbourhood Policy planned for May was postponed at the request of the Belarusian side.

Regrettably, we must once again observe that since the last appearance of Ambassador Heyken at Permanent Council in November 2004, the human rights situation and that of civil society in Belarus have deteriorated, and civil society has become even weaker. We have made repeated calls to the Belarusian authorities to reverse this trend, and do so again today. The people of Belarus deserve better.

The EU is concerned by the limits placed on freedom of association in Belarus. In this regard, we continue to regret the impact that legal address requirements have on the work of NGOs there. We are similarly disturbed by the new law on non-governmental organizations and amendments to the law on political parties.

We also regret that media freedom and freedom of expression are not respected in Belarus. Reports about harassment of independent media, for example Beloruskaya Delovaya Gazeta and Narodnaya Volya, appear constantly. We call on the Belarusian authorities to recognise the benefits that a truly independent media could bring to their society, and to live up to their OSCE commitments, which they have freely entered into. We would encourage the Belarusian authorities to maintain cooperation with the Representative for Freedom of the Media and to take advantage of the expertise of his office.

The EU appreciates the OOM's monitoring activities in the cases of Mikhail Marinich, Nikolay Statkevitch, Pavel Severinets and Andrey Klimov. We also welcome Ambassador Heykenâ€Ös visits to Alexandr Vasiliev and Professor Bandazhevsky. We draw attention to the case of Valery Levonevski, who has been convicted together with Mr Vasiliev. The EU will continue to follow closely the situation regarding all political prisoners.

We call on the Belarusian authorities to live up to their OSCE commitments, and notably to basic democratic principles, the rule of law and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. The EU is concerned at the direction in which the country is heading. We will continue to support the Belarusian people and civil society in their quest for democracy.

In conclusion, the EU would like to express its highest appreciation to Ambassador Heyken and his staff for their excellent work in challenging and difficult circumstances.

We wish you, Ambassador Heyken, all the very best for the future.

The Acceding Countries Bulgaria and Romania, the Candidate Countries Turkey and Croatia*, the Country of the Stabilisation and Association Process and potential candidate Albania, as well as Ukraine align themselves with this declaration.

*Croatia continues to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process