Belarus may be invited to sign Europes Human Rights Convention and accept Jurisdiction of European Court of Human Rights

29.06.2006.

The proposal was made in the PACE resolution of June 26. The resolution was based on Adrian Severins report on Belarus. In his interview to BelaPAN, he said that Belarus has not made any progress in following the European Councils basic principles. Belarus readiness to sign the Convention may be a step towards the European community. Besides, this will enable Belarusian citizens to address the European Court of Human Rights.
Severin said that PACEs recommendations will be considered by the European Councils Committee of Ministers. Belarus is expected to take adequate measures, release of prisoners, in particular.
On June 26 the PACE chair Rene van der Linden said he was ready to visit Belarus, provided that the schedule of the visit will be considered by both sides.
Severin views this as PACEs readiness to start a dialog with Belarus. At the same time, he said that van der Linden would not allow to turn the visit into a political show. He has a very distinct position concerning the situation with human rights in Belarus. According to him, in order such meeting could take place, Belarus should meet minimum conditions, e.g. willingness to start negotiations.

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