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IN THE SPOTLIGHT
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Belarusian National Platform of the EaP CSF elected Interim Coordination CommitteeTagged under Belarus Last weekend, the Belarusian civil society representatives elected the Interim Coordination Committee. It includes 8 leaders of the Belarusian NGOs. The Interim Coordination Committee of the Belarusian National Platform of the Eastern Partnerships Civil Society Forum was elected at a Conference "Civil society of Belarus: on the eve of the third annual meeting of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum" held in Minsk on October 29. Uladzimir Matskevich, chief of the Council of the International Consortium EUROBELARUS, was elected as the head of the Interim Coordination Committee. The Committee also includes Ulad Vialicka, co-chair of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum and chairperson of the International Consortium EUROBELARUS, Yaroslav Bekish, manager of the Environmental Partnership Green Network, Andrei Yahorau, director of the Centre for European Transformation, Sergey Drozdovsky, coordinator of the Office for Disabled Peoples’ Rights, Siarhei Mackevich, chairperson of the Board Assembly of NGOs, and Vladimir Karyagin, chairperson Union of Republican confederation of entrepreneurship, Human rights activist Ales Bialacki, who is detained in a remand prison now, was elected an honorary member of the Committee. Uladzimir Matskievich, head of the Interim Coordination Committee suggested that the operations of the new structure should be concentrated around two work streams. The first stream is advocacy and lobbying of the National Platform’s positions, also at the state level. The second one is self-organisation and development of the Belarusian National Platform of the EaP CSF. Also, the conference adopted a resolution, in which the Belarusian National Platform members stressed that the EU Eastern Partnership initiative could potentially become an important tool for conducting key reforms in the spheres of state administration, economy, environment, culture, and contacts between people in the direction of a further drawing nearer to the modern European standards and rules. The conference members, likewise, expressed their hope for a further growth of the EaP CSF role and significance within the EU Eastern Partnership initiative. ‘It is with regret that we have to acknowledge the Belarusian state’s unreadiness to deepen its interactions within the framework of the Eastern Partnership, and, in particular, its unwillingness to stand up to the high EU standards in the area of democratic development and human rights guarantees. Although the Belarusian authorities are ignoring their participation in a variety of the Eastern Partnership’s dimensions and structural components (e.g., the discussion of the issues related to the judicial reform within the Council of Europe’s Eastern Partnership Facility et al), we declare the necessity of an obligatory inclusion of Belarus in these processes, as well as the readiness on behalf of the civil society to take part in them as experts and observers,’ states the resolution. The conference members reiterated their appeal to the Government and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus to revise their policies towards the Eastern Partnership, and to expand and intensify the country’s involvement in all the dimensions declared within its framework. Source of information - Information service of intenational consortium "EuroBelarus" |
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