Time for Accountability and Justice: Rule of Law under Threat in Belarus

Since 2020, Belarus has witnessed a systematic dismantling of the rule of law. Repression has targeted political opponents, human rights defenders, independent lawyers, trade unions, journalists and any citizen perceived as a potential threat to the regime. Civic space has been completely dismantled, courts have been turned into instruments of repression rather than justice. Lawyers are harassed, disbarred, and jailed for defending political prisoners. Independent judges have been removed and due process guarantees systematically violated. Thousands have been arbitrarily detained, tortured, and subjected to unfair trials. This erosion of the rule of law has gone hand in hand with systematic impunity. Perpetrators of grave human rights violations – including torture and enforced disappearances – remain unpunished, while survivors are denied justice and reparation. UN human rights experts and international NGOs have warned that some of these violations may amount to crimes against humanity.

The regime has also extended repression beyond its borders, through transnational persecution of exiled Belarusians, politically motivated charges and extradition requests. It increasingly applies trials in absentia to hand down long prison sentences against opposition leaders, human rights defenders, and journalists. Opposition leaders such as Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski have faced long prison sentences, in flagrant breach of international human rights standards. The regime also relies on disinformation campaigns and intelligence operations abroad, targeting diaspora communities and democratic structures. Belarus’s territory has also been used to facilitate Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, underscoring the regime’s broader disregard for international law.

Accountability and justice must be central to any response to the crisis in Belarus.

This side event, organised in the margins of UNGA80, will bring together states, international organisations, UN mechanisms, and Belarusian democratic voices to discuss how to advance efforts for accountability and restore the rule of law in Belarus.

Guiding questions
Repression inside Belarus: How can the international community respond to the persecution of human rights defenders, lawyers, and political prisoners, as well as to in absentia trials that blatantly violate fair trial guarantees?

Transnational repression: What concrete steps are needed to counter threats, fabricated charges, extradition attempts, and disinformation/espionage targeting Belarusian diaspora communities and democratic institutions abroad?

International justice and accountability tools: How can existing mechanisms – such as ICC and ICJ proceedings, universal jurisdiction cases, UN Special Procedures, and UNGA country resolutions – be better used to ensure accountability for crimes committed in Belarus?

Global awareness and coordination: How can the international community and civil society strengthen cooperation to counter disinformation, and advance a common roadmap for accountability and the restoration of the rule of law in Belarus?

Agenda

13.45 Welcome and opening remarks: H.E. Belén Martinez Carbonell, Secretary-General, European Union External Action Service

13.50 Remarks by co-organisers
 - Lithuania – H.E. Kęstutis Budrys, Minister of Foreign Affairs
 - Estonia – H.E. Minna-Liina Lind, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs
- Denmark – H.E. Jeppe-Tranholm-Mikkelsen, Permanent Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
 - Latvia - details to come

14.10 Briefing by Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, leader of the Belarusian democratic forces

14.20 Andrea Huber, Head of the International Accountability Platform for Belarus

14.25 Discussion, comments and questions from participants

15.00 End of event