On 25 January, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe voted in favour of the creation of a “representative delegation of Belarusian democratic forces”, which will be able to take part in the work of its committees and networks.
It also decided to appoint a “General Rapporteur for a Democratic Belarus”.
The resolution formalising these decisions was adopted with 64 votes in favour and 3 abstentions.
It is based on a report defended on Thursday by the Finnish Socialist Kimmo Kiljunen during a debate in which the opponent Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, leader of the “Belarusian Government in Exile”, spoke.
The destinies of Ukraine and Belarus are intertwined, she stressed. “Without the victory of Ukraine, a free Belarus is not possible. And without a free Belarus, there cannot be lasting peace in Europe”.
Her country’s accession to the Council of Europe – an objective stated in the resolution – would be a first step for a democratic Belarus on the road to the European Union, she added.
Although Belarus is not a member of the Council of Europe, it is nevertheless a State Party to some of the organisation’s conventions.
The organisation’s close contacts with the Belarusian democratic opposition began after the fraudulent election of President Alexander Lukashenko in August 2020 and intensified after the armed aggression against Ukraine launched by Russia in February 2022 with the support of the Belarusian regime.
A permanent “Contact Group” was then launched by the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, making it the first international organisation to establish formal relations with the united democratic forces of Belarus.
Since the 2020 elections, the resolution states, “the repression by the Lukashenka regime against the Belarusian people is so serious, widespread and systematic that it may amount to crimes against humanity”.
Link to the resolution: https://aeur.eu/f/alt (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)