Background

The Human Rights Council established the mandate of Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Belarus in 2012 by its resolution 20/13, and has since renewed the mandate annually. Each year the Special Rapporteur prepares and presents a report to the Human Rights Council entitled “Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Belarus”.

Objectives of the report

The report provides an update, summarizes and analyzes the main trends on the developments pertaining to human rights in the Republic of Belarus in the course of a specific year, contains a selection of cases brought to the attention of the UN special procedures, and puts forth recommendations to the Government and/or the international community. The decision to include cases is made on the basis of the principles of ‘do no harm’ and informed consent.

Key questions and types of input

The Special Rapporteur invites States, United Nations entities, international organizations, NHRIs, civil society organizations, academics, networks, and other relevant stakeholders to share information, documents, statements or analysis pertaining to the objective of this report. When relevant and if available, please provide information or analysis that might provide links of these issues to specific human rights legislation, policies or programmes.

Responses can address some of all of the following:

1. Patterns and trends pertaining to the human rights situation in Belarus during the reporting period (see below), including any changes observed from previous years (e.g. increase or decrease of cases recorded in a specific communities, measures taken against specific groups, relevant statistics etc.).
2. In addition to the general overview of the human rights situation in Belarus, this year the report will focus on the potential human rights impact of the proposed draft Constitution. Therefore relevant information and analysis will also be encouraged.