If you missed the conference Action on Belarus in Norway, you can watch clips from the event on 22 March online here. The conference is part of a broader campaign strategy on Belarus.
More than a year has passed since the violent crackdown on protesters on 19 December 2010 in Minsk. Since then, the human rights situation in Belarus has continued to spiral downwards. Political opposition leaders Andrei Sannikov, Mikhail Statkevich and several others remain imprisoned. Human rights organizations and independent media are being harassed. The leading human rights defender Ales Bialiatski has been convicted to a long prison sentence. The European Union takes the lead on action against Belarus, and has imposed sanctions like ban on visa for more than 200 officials and limitations on trade with companies close to the President. Still, there are no signs that President Alexander Lukashenko, who has been in power for eighteen years, is planning to unclench his iron fist. Instead, the crisis in the relationship between Belarus and Europe has deepened, and at the same time the doubt about Belarus’ ability to save its’ internal economy becomes stronger.
Norwegian PEN, Human Rights House Foundation and Norwegian Helsinki Committee hosted a conference Action on Belarus!
Place: House of Literature, Oslo
Time: Thursday 22 March 2012, at 08.30 – 16.00 CET
These are some of the questions asked:
Is the pursued policy efficient? Is Norway’s policy towards Belarus clear enough? How can we offer more support to freedom-longing Belarusians? And is the Belarusian people ready for a change?
The Conference was projected live on web-cast on the following web-sites: http://www.nhc.no; http://www.humanrightshouse.org and http://www.norskpen.no/ .
The conference was organized and hosted by the Human Rights House Foundation (HRH), the Norwegian Helsinki Committee (NHC) and Norwegian PEN, supported by the Norwegian Union of Journalists, the Norwegian Publishers Association and the Norwegian Non-fiction Writers And Translators Association (NFF) in cooperation and with financial support from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Freedom of Expression Foundation (Fritt Ord) and the Norwegian Association of Media Organizations.
