UN Committee Considered Belarusian Women’s Complaint About Treatment In Prison

That's what the Committee decided.

On March 7, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination published a decision on the complaint of Belarusian citizens Alena Dubovik and Maryna Dubina. They appealed to the UN because of the humiliating treatment of women in the Center for Isolation of Law-Breakers in Minsk and in the temporary detention center in Zhodzina in 2017. The publication “Pozirk”. drew attention to the document.

The Committee's decision notes that discriminatory conditions of detention and ill-treatment violated their rights. The constant surveillance of them by male security guards, the lack of basic hygiene products, soap, toilet paper and other violations are qualified as ill-treatment, violating the privacy, dignity and rights of the applicants, who “were sentenced to administrative arrest for a period of 12 to 14 days after < …> participation in mass gatherings.”

The Committee noted that both victims were held in poor, unsanitary and degrading conditions in both detention facilities.

“Their special needs as women, including physiological and medical, were not taken into account which constituted gender discrimination,” said committee member Elgun Safarov.

“The absence of a designated area, building or cell designed to adequately accommodate women prisoners, and the failure of a State party to the [1979] UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women to ensure that their dignity, privacy and physical and psychological safety are protected in these institutions constitute a violation by Belarus of its obligations under the Convention,” the expert added.

The Committee recalled that women in custody should be under the supervision and control of female staff. It also stressed that keeping women in institutions that do not meet their special needs constitutes discrimination.

The Committee called on Belarus to ensure full redress, including adequate compensation, to the two victims, as well as their access to adequate medical care to address the negative impact on physical and mental health.

Alena Dubovik and Maryna Dubina were detained in Minsk on March 15, 2017 before the March of Non-Parasites authorized by the Minsk City Executive Committee. They were sentenced to 12 and 14 days off arrest, and after leaving the temporary detention facility, they filed complaints with the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the prosecutor's office and the courts about the humiliating and discriminatory treatment of women at the Center for Isolation of Law-Breakers in Minsk and the temporary detention center in Zhodzina.

The UN Committee considered the complaint of the Belarusians for four years. Maryna Dubina is the ex-director of Ecodom, one of the oldest environmental organizations in Belarus (now liquidated and recognized as extremist). Alena Dubovik is also an environmental activist.