Homel Activists Assert Their Right To Peaceful Protest In UN

The REP trade union is striving to hold street rallies in the region.

As Viktar Kazlou, a representative of the Independent Trade Union of Radio Electronics Industry Workers in Homel Region, told Homel Spring, he, together with other union activists, filed a collective complaint with the UN Human Rights Committee, defending the right to express their opinions at peaceful assemblies.

Kazlou and his colleagues intended to hold a mass event to express the union protest against labor contracts on the World Day of Action for Decent Work on October 7, 2016, but the Homel City Executive Committee banned picketing even at the venue officially meant for meetings. The Court of First Instance, and then the higher courts, including the Supreme Court and the General Prosecutor's Office, took the side of the officials.

Viktar Kazlou believes that the state acting through the Homel City Executive Committee violates the fundamental rights of citizens – to freedom of peaceful assembly and expression of opinions, provided for in the Articles 19 and 21 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. He also points out that the authorities determined only two places for holding pickets and rallies in 500,000 Homel, and the citizens, following the decision of the city executive committee, have to pay for emergency services and communal services when holding peaceful assemblies.

"Belarus does not fulfill its international obligations, since the national law" On Mass Events "contains ambiguous and vague norms that can be interpreted and are interpreted in different ways, so we ask in the complaint to the UN Committee on Human Rights not only to establish the violation of our rights, but also to recommend the Belarusian government to bring the national law "On Mass Events" and the practice of its application into conformity with the country's international obligations," – legal inspector of the REP trade union Leanid Sudalenka commented on the situation.

According to him, the UN Human Rights Committee has repeatedly criticized not only the Belarusian law on mass events and the practice of its application, but also the local decision of officials on the procedure for holding meetings in Homel. However, the situation remains the same.