Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya addressed the UN Secretary General about the regime's denunciation of the agreement, which allowed Belarusians to submit complaints to the Human Rights Committee.
Optional Protocol No. 1 to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights entered into force for Belarus in 1992. Since then, it has given the citizens of Belarus, who have exhausted all domestic remedies, the possibility of filing individual complaints about violations of their rights with the appropriate UN body. The Lukashenko regime initiated denunciation of this agreement in October 2022.
In her address, Tsikhanouskaya noted:
"This move by the Lukashenko regime is aimed at depriving the citizens of the Republic of Belarus of the last mechanism for seeking international protection provided by Article 61 of the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus. It deliberately and rudely separates the Belarusians from the international law".
The national leader's appeal aims to "shed light on the true intentions of this step and make the role of the UN Human Rights Committee more relevant today than ever before".
Tsikhanouskaya calls for the activation of "additional mechanisms to publicly report and investigate human rights violations, restore the rights of victims and bring perpetrators to justice" and, if necessary, to introduce "new mechanisms that adequately address the current human rights crisis in Belarus.
Taking into account the large number of Belarusians' complaints that are under consideration by the UN Human Rights Committee, Tsikhanouskaya expressed her support and readiness to cooperate with the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Belarus and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
On behalf of the Belarusian people Tsikhanouskaya confirmed her readiness to continue to adhere to the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and comply with the relevant international obligations.