The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Belarus, Nils Muižnieks, has published his first report, covering the period from 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025. The document provides a systemic analysis that confirms the ongoing civil and political rights crisis in Belarus and documents its deterioration.
Key highlights are as follows:
- The presidential election on 26 January 2025 was deemed inconsistent with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights due to the total absence of freedoms and the repression before and after the vote.
- Over 1,200 individuals remain behind bars as recognized political prisoners, despite some having been released through pardons.
- The report highlights systematic ill-treatment of detainees — especially women, minors, and the elderly. Documented cases of incommunicado detention, torture, and coercion continue.
- It underscores the scale of transnational repression, including in-absentia trials, confiscation of exiles’ property, reprisals against their families, and restrictions on former prisoners.
- A separate section addresses repression against the LGBTQ+ community, effectively legitimizing discrimination at the level of state policy.
The Special Rapporteur issued a comprehensive set of recommendations to overcome the systemic human rights crisis in Belarus — including the immediate release of all political prisoners.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya’s Advisor on Legal Affairs, Leanid Marozau: “We are grateful to Nils Muižnieks for his impartial and extremely important report. The document highlights just how manipulative the Lukashenka regime was in staging the 2025 ‘election’ — and how the ongoing repression in Belarus blatantly contradicts fundamental norms of international law and universal human rights”.
Photo: BNS/AFI, Andrejs Strokins
