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PONARS Eurasia
PONARS Eurasia
  • About
    • Contact
    • Membership
      • All Members
      • Core Members
      • Collegium Members
      • Associate Members
      • About Membership
    • Ukraine Experts
    • Executive Committee
  • Policy Memos
    • List of Policy Memos
    • Submissions
  • Podcasts
  • Online Academy
  • Events
    • Past Events
  • Recommended
  • Ukraine Experts
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RECOMMENDED
  • The Russia Program at GW (IERES)

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  • The Evolving Concerns of Russians after the Invasion | New Voices on Eurasia with Sasha de Vogel (March 9)

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  • Ukrainathon 2023 (Feb. 24-25)

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  • How Putin has shrugged off unprecedented economic sanctions over Russia’s war in Ukraine – for now

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RSS PONARS Eurasia Podcast
  • The Putin-Xi Summit: What's New In Their Joint Communique ? February 23, 2022
    In this week’s PONARS Eurasia Podcast, Maria Lipman speaks with Russian China experts Vita Spivak and Alexander Gabuev about the February meeting between Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, and what it may tell us about where the Russian-Chinese relationship is headed.
  • Exploring the Russian Courts' Ruling to Liquidate the Memorial Society January 28, 2022
    In this week’s PONARS Eurasia Podcast, Maria Lipman chats with scholars Kelly Smith and Benjamin Nathans about the history, achievements, and impending shutdown of the Memorial Society, Russia's oldest and most venerable civic organization, and what its imminent liquidation portends for the Russian civil society.
  • Russia's 2021 census and the Kremlin's nationalities policy [Lipman Series 2021] December 9, 2021
    In this week’s PONARS Eurasia Podcast, Maria Lipman chats with social scientist Andrey Shcherbak about the quality of the data collected in the recent population census and the goals of Vladimir Putin's government's nationalities policy
  • Active citizens of any kind are under threat [Lipman Series 2021] November 5, 2021
    In this week’s PONARS Eurasia Podcast, Maria Lipman chats with Alexander Verkhovsky about the Kremlin's ever expanding toolkit against political and civic activists, journalists, and other dissidents.
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    In this week’s PONARS Eurasia Podcast, Maria Lipman chats with Tanya Lokot and Nikolay Petrov about the results of Russia’s legislative elections and about what comes next.
  • Why Is the Kremlin Nervous? [Lipman Series 2021] September 14, 2021
    In this week’s PONARS Eurasia Podcast, Maria Lipman chats with Ben Noble and Nikolay Petrov about Russia’s September 17-19 legislative elections, repressive measures against electoral challengers, and whether to expect anything other than preordained results.
  • Vaccine Hesitancy in Russia, France, and the United States [Lipman Series 2021] August 31, 2021
    In this week's PONARS Eurasia Podcast episode, Maria Lipman chats with Denis Volkov, Naira Davlashyan, and Peter Slevin about why COVID-19 vaccination rates are still so low across the globe, comparing vaccine hesitant constituencies across Russia, France, and the United States.  
  • Is Russia Becoming More Soviet? [Lipman Series 2021] July 26, 2021
      In a new PONARS Eurasia Podcast episode, Maria Lipman chats with Maxim Trudolyubov about the current tightening of the Russian political sphere, asking whether or not it’s helpful to draw comparisons to the late Soviet period.
  • The Evolution of Russia's Political Regime [Lipman Series 2021] June 21, 2021
    In this week's episode of the PONARS Eurasia Podcast, Maria Lipman chats with Grigory Golosov and Henry Hale about the evolution of Russia's political regime, and what to expect in the lead-up to September's Duma elections.
  • Volodymyr Zelensky: Year Two [Lipman Series 2021] May 24, 2021
    In this week's episode of the PONARS Eurasia Podcast, Maria Lipman chats with Sergiy Kudelia and Georgiy Kasianov about Ukrainian President Zelensky's second year in office, and how he has handled the political turbulence of the past year.
  • Recommended | Рекомендуем

The Government of Belarus: Crushing Human Rights at Home? (U.S. Hearing)

  • April 4, 2011
  • PONARS Eurasia

 

The U.S. House of Representatives' Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, and Human Rights (Christopher H. Smith (R-NJ) and Subcommittee on Europe and Eurasia (Dan Burton (R-IN), Chairman) held a public hearing: The Government of Belarus: Crushing Human Rights at Home?

Testimony was heard from Emanuelis Zingeris, a Member of Lithuania’s Parliament, Daniel A. Russell (Deputy Assistant Secretary for Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, and Belarus, Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, U.S. Department of State), David Kramer (Executive Director, Freedom House), and Matt Rojansky (Deputy Director, Russia and Eurasia Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace). Members and witnessess spoke about the recent and continuing abuses committed by Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, such as the detention of 700 peaceful people during the government crackdown after the rigged December 19, 2010, elections. Zingeris said there are five presidential candidates still in jail from that crackdown and that in his view the "Belarus regime is using all channels of dictatorship." Speakers were in agreement that there continues to be a "human rights tragedy" in Belarus and that Lukashenko is "Europe's last dictator, who stole the country sixteen years ago."

In an indication of how closed the society still is, it was pointed out that half of Belarus citizens have not met anyone from the EU and that 70% had never travelled to the EU. Chariman Burton said that repressive events were still occuring, such as the recent arrest of a Polish journalist for "insulting the leader." With the OSCE now out of the country–its Minsk office was closed on March 31–there appears to be a "total shutdown" by Lukashenko's regime, which has "exceeded anything it has done in the past," and that “persecutions, raids, detentions, beating, and pressure on lawyers” are ongoing problems, according to Burton. Furthermore, he said that Lukashenko "is a thug and last remnant of the old order," and that "this despot is helping other regimes, like Iran and Libya."

One novel idea proposed by the Chariman was to petition the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) to cancel their planned 2011/2012 tournaments in Belarus. He thought this might personally affect and pressure Lukashenko, who is a big hockey fan. During the session, increased European economic leverage was called for, particularly sanctions against large, state-owned enterprises. The U.S. currently has more sanctions on Belarus than Europe in this regard. It was pointed out that Lukashenko had actually released some political prisoners after enhanced economic sanctions were placed on his country in 2008. Rojansky and Kramer had a slight disagreement about the nature and merits of sanctions, and disagreed about how close the U.S./EU should work with Russia, but all agreed that continued, consistent, U.S./EU pressure must be kept on the repressive government of Lukashenko. Kramer stated, "Democracy and reform will not come to this country as long as Lukashenko is there." He finished by saying, "We should start talking about regime change." Rojansky concluded his testimony saying "Lukashenko will not last in Belarus" citing his regime's current 50% GDP foreign debt load, saying "this guy [Lukashenko] is going to go."

Further details and a webcast can be found at: The Government of Belarus: Crushing Human Rights at Home?

Related Topics
  • Belarus
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Why Still Pro-Russia? Making Sense of Hungary’s and Serbia’s Pro-Russia Stance

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The Desire to Possess: Russia’s War for Territory

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