Freedom House’s head demands to introduce sanctions against Belaruskali

The USA and EU still have means of putting pressure on the Belarusian authorities in their arsenal that they did not use before, David Kramer believes.

Lukashenka’s regime keeps on selling weapons to pariah countries and violates fundamental legal principles of a democratic state. However, the USA and EU still have some means of putting pressure on the Belarusian authorities in order for the latter to release political prisoners and carry out democratic reforms in the country, the Voice of America reports.

Such an opinion was voiced by the director of a human rights organization Freedom House David Kramer, who attended the event “American-Belarusian relations: humn rights and diplomacy”, which took place in Georgetown University on Monday 25 March.

One of such type of measures of influence, and the Freedom House’s head is sure here, may become economic measures implied against big Belarusian enterprises, particularly Belaruskali.

“Undoubtedly, Belaruskali enterprise is one of them. Nevertheless, the European Union should also reconsider its trade relations with Belarus as a whole, because the increase in the trade turnover sabotages the effects of the sanctions, introduced by the EU itself. The Euroepan Union has done a great job in terms of sanctions, but the trade with Belarus, which means with Lukashenka, affect the effectiveness of the measures taken.

The continuing support for civil society is an achievement of the USA and EU. However the European Union should not show that it wants relations with Lukashneka more than it wants to communicate with the West. I am concerned that this is what will happen in the Eastern Partnership summit”.

In Kramer’s opinion, not only does Lukashenka threaten the democratic development of his own country, but the international community as well, since his regime keeps on supplying weapons to non-democratic states.

“Lukashenka sells weapons to pariah regimes. There are concerns over the build-up of Belarus’ weapon arsenals, despite that the country has refused its nuclear weapon reserve after the collapse of the Soviet Union. It seems to me that we should be concerned over the fact that Belarus’ model under Lukashenka’s leadership may be taken as an example in other countries. It means that his regime threatens not only to those who live in the country, but beyond its borders too”.

At the same time, the director of the European department of the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor of the US Departmetn of State Michael Uyehara, who also attended the event, stated for the Voice of America that due to the current situation the incumbent administration has put forward a number of difficult conditions for Lukashenka’s regime. Answering the question of why the USA and EU still do not manage to find a compromise with Belarusian authorities, Uyehara noted:

“Your question contains the eternal problem of diplomacy. Normal relations presume a dialogue; partners must be sincere to one another. In the relations with Belarus, however, the circumstances have weighted in the way that the reputation of the Belarusian authorities is so bad that we have put forward a number of conditions, according to which Belarus must first comply with certain criteria before a dialogue is established with it.  The Belarusian authorities know what we expect from them, they know our conditions. As soon they are fulfilled, we will be able to start a normal dialogue again. Belarus is the only country in which we had to decrease the number of employees of our embassy on the demand of the local authorities. We do not even have an ambassador to this country, and it is very difficult to have a normal dialogue in the absence of the ambassador of one of the countries”.

In conclusion Uyehara noted that with John Kerry’s taking over the position of the Secretary of State the US’ policy towards Belarus will not change:

“The United States has been consistent in its calls on the government of Belarus for the changes in the situation with human rights in the country, for the political space to be broadened and also the government system of checks and balances to be strengthened. With John Kerry’s arrival to the Department of State the USA’s policy towards Belarus will remain unchanged".