Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-02-23-Speech-3-057"
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"en.20050223.6.3-057"2
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"Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to draw your attention to the violation of human rights in Belarus, one of the countries that shares borders with the European Union. According to a report on human rights violations in 2004, published on the Internet by the independent Belarussian civil initiative Charter 97, approximately 1 500 people were detained or arrested for political reasons in Belarus last year. Approximately 20 newspapers were closed, and three opposition politicians were sentenced to several years’ imprisonment. The political regime of President Lukashenko exerts control over the media and violates basic human rights, civil rights and political freedoms. The Belarussian people are denied the right to independent information as well as the right of political parties to conduct their affairs freely and the right to freedom of assembly.
In February of this year, Belarus was also the scene of protests relating to economic issues. Everything indicates that the situation in that country will become more critical as a result of the presidential elections that must take place no later than September 2006. Lukashenko will run for the third time in these elections. It should be remembered that the referendum held last year, which did not comply with any democratic principles, allowed him to hold this position for life. On the other hand, the civilian population in Belarus is rousing itself, above all under the influence of the democratic breakthrough in Ukraine.
Ladies and gentlemen, I am saying this as a representative from Central Europe, and as a former leader of Solidarity, the trade union that began a peaceful revolution in Poland 25 years ago, guided by the idea of human rights. The European Parliament must not resign itself to the creation of a new curtain on the borders of the European Union, this time separating a democratic Europe in which citizens can develop freely from an authoritarian Europe in which political regimes violate basic human rights. We must remember that the flag of the European Union has become a symbol of freedom and hope for a better world in Belarus. We must bear in mind those young people who on St Valentine’s Day distributed light-blue ribbons with gold stars on the streets of cities in Belarus. The heart of Europe now beats in Minsk, and the fate of democracy on the European continent is being decided there."@en1
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