| home archive search downloads subscription contacts |
 | |||||||||
Declaration of the Assembly Of Belarusian Democratic NGOs On Participation of the Belarusian Civic Society in the Eastern PartnershipWe welcome the new initiative by the European Union and see it as a historic chance for Belarus to start participating actively in the European life. However we believe that Belarus’ accession to this project should depend on the situation in the country otherwise Eastern Partnership will just help to preserve today’s situation in Belarus without providing any fundamental changes.Current situation in Belarus, in our opinion, limits the possibility of participation of Belarus in the Eastern Partnership initiative on political level. The cooperation of Belarusian authorities with the governing structures of the Eastern Partnership is going to have just a technical character and will be aimed on solving particular problems in the frames of the Eastern Partnership initiative. But the lack of political cooperation between Belarus and European Union should not prevent the sides from working together in the other fields of the project. The civic society in Belarus is able and is ready to become a subject which will allow the country to use the potential of the Eastern Partnership for introducing positive changes in the State. It is also able not to let Belarusian authorities to preserve current internal situation. With European structures’ mediation, a productive dialogue can be led between Belarusian civic society and authorities, which might result in effective and stable changes in Belarus. The development of the criteria of the participation of Belarus in the Eastern Partnership initiative, as well as the monitoring of situation in Belarus should be the main tasks of Belarusian civic society at the moment. These tasks could be realized, for instance, in the following ways: a) by developing proposals on changes and reforms in Belarus; b) by monitoring changes in the internal situation, regarding mentioned above propositions; c) by estimating the level of the correspondence of the situation in Belarus to European standards; d) by participating in making agenda for European governmental and non-governmental institutions with the purpose of implementing European standards of internal politics in Belarus (in the fields of human rights, social security, judiciary, elections, etc.). The implementation should be organized not only in the framework of the Eastern Partnership project, but also in the frames of other forms of Belarusian-European cooperation. All cases of human rights violations, as well as other aberrations from European standards, should be considered in the light of the participation of Belarus in the Eastern Partnership project. Human rights organizations, networking structures and other participants of the country’s civic society should be considered as legitimate actors in this sphere. The Civic Society Forum should have real influence on the country’s issues, it should not cover the absence of real changes in Belarus. The suggestion to hold the Civic Society Forum in the form of regular conferences seems to be rather beneficial. In our opinion, the representation of Belarusian NGOs at this event should be as diverse, as it is possible, all important democratic organizations should take part in it. It is also essential that at the time between the conferences civic society could have an influence on Belarusian-European dialogue. Thus, there is sense in organizing regular meetings of the leaders of Belarusian civic and political society with the representatives of authorities. These meetings should be held under the auspices of the Eastern Partnership and with the participation of European experts and of the EU representatives (first of all, those of the European Commission and its structures, and also the representatives of different institutions created in the framework of the Eastern Partnership). This kind of mechanism is already being implemented in some other spheres of Belarusian-European dialogue (for instance, in the field of electoral legislation, the freedom of expression, etc.). As the practice shows, it has worked more effectively than the mechanism of creating advisory councils on the national level. The Eastern Partnership might help in institutionalizing this mechanism of advisory councils and increase its effectiveness. We suggest to pay attention to the Resolution of the VI Congress of the Assembly of NGOs, which was made on March 6th, 2009 by more than 300 participants of the Congress. The Resolution contains a brief analysis of the current situation in Belarusian third sector and a list of actions which can be undertaken for the normalization of the situation. We call upon the international community to continue monitoring the situation with human rights in Belarus. Human rights cannot be subject to bargaining or concessions. The Assembly of Belarusian Democratic Non-Governmental Organizations is ready to take part in the preparation and organization of the civic society Forum in the frames of the Eastern Partnership project. The Assembly of Belarusian Democratic Non-Governmental Organizations is an association of 220 civic organizations and initiatives. It was founded in 1997. Its main objectives are: promotion of Belarusian NGOs’ interests and protection of their rights; improvement of communication between NGOs; monitoring, analysis and evaluation of the situation in the public sector. From the moment when the European Parliament declared the testing period for Belarusian authorities, the Assembly is monitoring closely the situation with the realization of the freedom of association in Belarus. This article appeared in Belarusian Review, Vol. 21, No. 2 --------------------------------------------- Copyright 2009 Belarusian Review All rights reserved. belarusianreview@hotmailcom
|
|||||||||
| Rubriques |
Belarusian Culture
Belarusians Abroad
Contents
Economy
Editorial
Features
Chronicle of Events
Legacy of Chernobyl
Letters
Media Watch
News Briefs
- Culture & Society
- Freedom of Religion
- Independent Media
- Belarus & the World
- Human Rights
- Politics - Opposition
- Politics - Regime
Thoughts and Observations
| New Articles |
| Declaration by the Coordinating Committee of Belarusians of Canada (23.01.2011) |
| Belarus Police Arrest Opposition Leaders (23.01.2011) |
| Blood and Special Operations in Belarus Politics (23.01.2011) |
| A backfire in Belarus (23.01.2011) |
| Wrong Carrot, Wrong Stick (23.01.2011) |
| StatementBy the Office for a Democratic Belarus (Brussels) And the Belarusian Institute for Strategic Studies (23.01.2011) |
| Statement By the Rada of The Belarusian Democratic Republic in Exile 28th December 2010 (23.01.2011) |
| A Nasty Surprise in Belarus (23.01.2011) |
| Demonstration in London (23.01.2011) |
| The Center for Belarusian Studies (23.01.2011) |
| Belarus: That’s enough democracy (23.01.2011) |
| STATEMENT (23.01.2011) |
| In Belarus, a Slide Toward Eastern Aggression (23.01.2011) |
| Opinion - The EU Has no Choice But to Continue Dialogue With Belarus (23.01.2011) |
| No Business as Usual (23.01.2011) |
| Readers' Favorites |
| Belarusian Weapons Exports:A Possible Source of Laundered Funds? (15622) |
| The Exchange Rate Policy for Belarus (15490) |
| Kitabs, the Unique Phenomenon of the Belarusian Language in "Encyclopedia of the Belarusian language" (15468) |
| Belarusica at the AAASS Convention (14472) |
| Vaclav Havel - in Defense of Jakub Kolas Humanities Lyceum (14412) |
| Putin Doctrine: Immediate Threat to Belarus (14015) |
| Belarusian Currency: Problems and Perspectives (13878) |
| Is Lukashenka Winning Back Hearts and Minds? (13533) |
| DZIADY and Kurapaty Unite the Opposition (13181) |
| Belarus Represented in the World Book Fair (13175) |
| Minsk Wants Compensation from Moscow for Abandoning National Currency (13169) |
| Opposition Forms New Pro-European Alliance (13016) |
| The Sad State of Agriculture (12633) |
| EU Aid Misuse Fears (12150) |
| The Third Wave, or the regimes current tactics in dealing with independent NGOs (11740) |