The
Declaration on State Sovereignty adopted by the Supreme Soviet of the BSSR on 27
July 1990
de jure guaranteed the right of the Belarusian nation for self-determination
and established full state sovereignty, i.e. the “independence of the Republic
in external relations” became one of the important elements of this
sovereignty. After the adoption of the Belavezha Agreements in December 1991 Belarus became a sovereign independent
country de facto. On 2 October 1991 a declaration on “Principles of
external policy of the Republic of Belarus” was adopted. In the beginning of
1990 Belarus established diplomatic relations
with the majority of the European states. Belarusian embassies were opened
abroad, as well as embassies and diplomatic missions of European countries and
international organizations were set up in Belarus. Belarus was effectively cooperating with
the OSCE, NATO, Council of Europe and other international organizations.
The
1996 Referendum: Europe refused to recognize the legitimacy
of the Constitution
However
there were quite a few changes when Lukashenko came to power. For instance,
today one might list the number of official and simple working visits to the
European countries paid by the president of the Belarus state in the course of his 14-year
rule using fingers on one hand. In July 1996 Lukashenko paid a visit to France, it was the first official visit of
the President of Belarus to the European countries. A long pause followed after
that.
In November 1996 a Referendum
initiated by Aleksandr Lukashenko took place in Belarus, which brought substantial changes
to the Constitution and de facto dissolved the Parliament (The 13th
meeting of the Supreme Soviet). After the 1996 Referendum the EU Parliament
adopted a resolution on Belarus. The European Union refused to
recognize the legitimacy of the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus which came into force after the
Referendum. All bilateral relations at the ministerial level were suspended and
the technical assistance to Belarus from the European Union within the
TACIS Programme was frozen, except humanitarian assistance and regional
programmes, including programmes aiming at improvement of the democratization
process. The EU countries also refused to support the acceptance of Belarus into the Council of Europe. By the
end of 1997 an office of the Advisory and Monitoring Group of the Organization
for Security and Cooperation in Europe was set up in Belarus, headed by a German diplomat Hans-Georg
Wieck.
Diplomatic row around Drozdy
The relations between Belarus and the Western Countries were
finally spoiled after the diplomatic row in 1998. The heads of the diplomatic
missions were proposed to leave their residences in Drozdy on the basis of the
need of an urgent repair of the water pipe-lines. Representatives of the
embassies unanimously assessed the actions of the Belarusian authorities as
breaching the Vienna Convention. The French Ambassador Bernard Fassier called
this move an “unprecedented case in the history of diplomacy” and the
Lithuanian Ambassador Viktoras Baublis called the actions of the authorities
with regard to diplomats a “targeted torture”. Back then Mr. Lukashenko said
that “Drozdy was his own personal residence”. Ambassadors of 13 countries
accredited in Belarus made a joined de-marche, they
visited the MFA and passed a verbal note in this regard to the Foreign Minister
of that time, Mr. Ivan Antanovich. Ambassador of the UK, Ms. Jessica Piers, the initiator
of the de-marche, made an announcement for the press where she confirmed that
it was a joined de-marche of all European Union countries, as well as Lithuania, Poland, Japan, CzechRepublic, Slovakia, Romania, Turkey and the USA.
On 20 June
1998
ambassadors left Belarus for “urgent consultations with
their governments”. The diplomatic row reached its highest. They replied with a
decision, adopted by the European Union, to declare personae-non grata all
Belarusian high ranking officials on the territory of the European Union
countries. The majority of the Central and Eastern European countries supported
this decision.
On 26
June 1998
Aleksandr Lukashenko made a statement about the double standards policy of the
European Union in the course of the Economic Forum in Crain-Montana (Switzerland). He arrived at the Forum late and
was talking exceptionally about politics rather than economy, which provoked
the adequate reaction of those present at the Forum. After his speech the
Belarusian leader demonstratively left the meeting hall…
Europeans set up
conditions and demands
On 2 July 1998 an international human rights
protection organization the Human Rights Watch published the following report
regarding the human rights situation in Belarus and called upon the Council of Europe
not to renew the special invitee status of Belarus at the CoE. In the autumn of 1998
the Belarusian authorities refused to prolong accreditations and visas for the
international staff of the OSCE AMG and the diplomats left the country.
With all these actions the
Belarusian regime pushed itself into international isolation. The OSCE and
other respected international organizations numerous times called upon the
Belarusian authorities to move towards the democratization. At the OSCE
Istanbul Summit in November 2000, where Mr. Lukashenko was invited, four
conditions were proposed to him: to hold free, democratic and transparent
elections; to reverse the atmosphere of fear to the atmosphere of trust; to
engage in a dialogue with the opposition; to elect a democratic parliament with
appropriate authority and to provide freedom to the Media. Belarus never fulfilled these conditions.
For many years Special Working
Groups on Belarus set up in the OSCE Parliamentary
Assembly headed by Adrian Severin and Uta Zapf were working on these issues.
The CoE Parliamentary Assembly also appointed special rapporterus on Belarus (Wolfgang Berendt, Andrea Rigoni,
etc). International observers from OSCE/ODIHR were monitoring Parliamentary
(2004 and 2008) and Presidential (2001 and 2006) elections. The elections were
not recognized as democratic and transparent. Europeans continued setting up
new conditions for Belarus.
New conditions… Coupled
with harsh sanctions
After the 2006 Presidential
elections that Europe did not recognize as meeting the international democratic
standards, the European Union and the USA introduced sanctions against almost
40 Belarusian officials, including the Head of the country, Aleksandr
Lukashenko, i.e. they were banned from entering the EU countries and their bank
accounts abroad were frozen.
Thus in November 2006 the European
Union put forward 12 conditions for the Belarusian authorities:
1. respect the right of the people of Belarus to elect their leaders democratically
– their right to hear all views and see all election candidates; the right of
opposition candidates and supporters to campaign without harassment,
prosecution or imprisonment; independent observation of the elections,
including by Belarusian non-governmental organisations; their freedom to
express their will and have their vote fairly counted;
2. respect the right of the people of Belarus toindependent information, and to express themselves freely e.g. by
allowing journalists to work without harassment or prosecution, not shutting
down newspapers or preventing their distribution;
3.respect the rights of non-governmental organisations
as a vital part of a healthy democracy – by no longer hindering their legal
existence, harassing and prosecuting members of NGOs, and allowing them to
receive international assistance;
4. release all political prisoners – members of democratic opposition
parties, members of NGOs and ordinary citizens arrested at peaceful
demonstrations or meetings;
5. properly and independently investigate or review the cases of disappeared
persons;
6. ensure the right of the people of Belarus to anindependent and impartialjudicial system – with judges who are
not subject to political pressure, and without arbitrary and unfounded criminal
prosecution or politically-motivated judgements such as locking-up citizens who
peacefully express their views;
7. end arbitrary arrest and detention, and ill-treatment;
8. respect the rights and freedoms of those
Belarusian citizens who belong to national
minorities;
9. respect the rights of the people of Belarus as workers – their right to join a trade union
and the right of trade unions to work to defend the people’s rights;
10. respect the rights of the people of Belarusas entrepreneurs to operate without excessive
intervention by the authorities;
11. join the other nations of Europe in abolishing the death penalty;
12. make use of the support which
the OSCE, the EU and other organisations offer to Belarus to help it respect the rights of
its people.
Is it a thaw in relations
between Belarus and Europe?
In summer 2008 Belarus fulfilled one of the conditions of
the EU and the USA, namely all political prisoners
were released.
On October
13, 2008 in
the course of the Summit of the Council of Ministers of the
European Union held in Luxembourg visa sanctions were suspended with
regard to a number of Belarusian officials. Out of 41 officials on the ban list
for traveling to the EU, only five remained, namely Lidya Yarmoshina, Uladzimir
Navumau, Viktar Sheiman, Dmitry Pauliuchenka and Yuri Sivakou. The Head of the
Central Election Commission, Lidya Yarmoshina, is being held responsible by
Europeans for undemocratic character of Belarusian elections. The Minister of
Interior, Uladzimir Navumau, and others still remain under suspicion with
regard to disappearances of opponents of the authorities Viktar Hanchar, Yury
Zakharanka, Anatol Karsouski and Zmitr Zavadzki.
