Civil Society Communication Platform calls for increased cooperation with Belarusian Civil Society by Council of Europe

The Civil Society Communication Platform “Belarusian Civil Society in 2013” met on 14-15 June 2013 in Warsaw in order to review the current situation of different sectors of civil society in Belarus. The meeting was organised by the Conference of International Non-governmental organisations of the Council of Europe and the Casimir Pulaski Foundation.

The EaP CSF was represented at the Platform by the Belarusian National Platform and other Forum Delegates, who stressed the importance of cooperation between local authorities and civil society in their intervention.

The Platform agreed on the need to identify common goals shared by different groups of civil society in order to enhance cooperation between them on selected issues of strategic importance.

The participants of the two-day meeting adopted a resolution i.a. calling on the Council of Europe to enhance cooperation with Belarusian civil society and demanding from the Belarusian authorities to release all political prisoners. Furthermore, they emphasized the fundamental role played by local activism and journalism in local communities and called on the Belarusian authorities to create conditions favourable of their work. They also demanded, that international partners should ensure participation of the Belarusian civil society thereby creating a sense of co-ownership concerning the related projects.

The full resolution is available here.

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