Human rights activists desire explanations over travel ban

The International Observation Mission (IOM) demands “to explain the current situation with “black lists” without delay”.

“…to inform all citizens, for whom leaving Belarus is temporarily restricted, to carry out an inspection in each case and all citizens put on the list illegally or by mistake, to be struck off the list; to offer a possibility to each fact of restriction of the freedom of travel,” the IOM statement reads.

The human rights activists also demand to bring the situation back into the legal framework and “to guarantee respect for right for freedom of travel, in particular, freedom to leave outside the country and return into it, for all citizens, including civil activists, human rights activists, journalists and oppositional politicians in the period ahead.”

The International Observation Mission has also urged the OSCE member countries and inter-governmental organizations “to pay special attention to the current situation in Belarus, where international norms and standards in the sphere of human dimension are violated, and take stringent and effective measures to remedy human rights violations in Belarus in the shortest possible time.”