Belarusian National Platform appeals for international monitoring of the situation in Ukraine

Appeal of Belarusian National Platform of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum "On the international monitoring of the situation in Ukraine"

UN Secretary-General

Secretary-General of the Council of Europe

OSCE Secretary General

EU High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy

Belarusian civil society organizations are extremely concerned about bloody violence and force developments around the protests in Ukraine. Hundreds killed and dozens injured, the prospect of an further escalation of confrontation - all this requires the immediate creation of a rapid response mechanism for:

• formation of a large-scale group of observers, both staff and representatives of international organizations, as well as among civil society experts;

• organization of long-term observation of the conflict and crisis situations;

• mediation between the different parties to the conflict;

• perform other functions aimed at reducing the negative consequences and prevention of violations of fundamental human rights and freedoms in such situations.

Our position is based on the fact that issues relating to human rights, fundamental freedoms, democracy and the rule of law are of international concern, as respect for these rights and freedoms constitutes one of the foundations of the international order, is of direct and legitimate concern to all participating states and do not belong exclusively to the internal affairs of the states. This principle is confirmed in several international agreements, including the Astana Declaration of the Summit of Heads of State and Government of the OSCE participating States in 2010.

Experience of large-scale repressions and mass arrests in Belarus in December 2010, clashes between protesters and police forces, as well as mass arrests in recent years in Kyrgyzstan,

Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and other countries demonstrate the need and importance of establishing such a mechanism as an emergency response to crises.

We see an urgent need in the coming days international organizations to maximize the opportunities of their mandates for sending such missions to Ukraine in the most crisis places. Representatives of Belarusian civil society are ready to take an active part in this work.

Belarusian civil society organizations, participants of Belarusian National Platform of the Civil

Full appeal

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