Conference Resolution of Belarusian National Platform: Belarus in circumstances of regional crisis and stagnation of the Eastern Partnership

Last week the Belarusian National Platform held a conference under the title “Belarus in circumstances of regional crisis and stagnation of the Eastern Partnership”, bringing together more than 60 civic organizations and initiatives.

In a Resolution following the conference the participants expressed their concern with the situation in the Eastern Partnership region, as well as with the current state and development of the initiative of the EU Eastern Partnership, stating that:

• the process of convergence of the Eastern Partnership countries with the European Union meets rough opposition from Russia, which uses illegal methods of economic and political blackmail. These actions have led to the denial of the Armenian leadership to initiate the Association Agreement with the EU, and have also provoked a long political crisis in Ukraine;

• stability and security of the Eastern Partnership region have been undermined by blatant military aggression of the Russian
Federation against Ukraine, which has already led to the occupation by Russia of a part of the territory of Ukraine (the Crimean Peninsula), and has been the cause of destabilization in Eastern and Southern Ukraine. As a result of aggression, hundreds of people were killed on both sides, including civilians in Ukraine. Civilians in Eastern Ukraine are intimidated by terrorist groups; the situation is close to humanitarian disaster;

• signing by Belarus of the Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Community(EAEC) on May 29, 2014 increases even more its dependence on Russian Federation and clearly contradicts to the European way of our country development. The project of Eurasian integration in its actual state closes opportunities for the members of the EAEC to develop parallel integration with the European Union, which greatly hinders the development of relations between Belarus and the European Union;

• human rights violation, political pressure and prosecution of public and political activists in Belarus and Azerbaijan is the main practice in our countries’ authorities’ relations with the civil society. We still have to state the absence of improvement in human rights’ relations in Belarus. Ungrounded detention of political prisoners, execution of death sentences, restriction of freedom of speech, association, assembly, permanent deterioration of conditions for the social and political activities are integral elements of the Belarusian authorities’ politics;

Full Resolution

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