- The Photos record impressions of three young photographers and journalists during the election campaign in Minsk, Grodno and Witebsk within an organized tour for journalist’s during the parliamentary elections 2008 in Belarus. Photos: Anne Ackermann, Stephan Pramme, Jan Zappner
The European Exchange gGmbH aims to support and
strengthen NGOs in the countries of the former Soviet
Union and in the new neighbour states of the European
Union in order to contribute to the rule of law, social
security and the protection of human rights throughout
Europe.
The Assembly of Pro-Democratic NGOs of Belarus calls upon non-governmental organizations and associations of various countries:
Dear Friends!
We suggest you to join the campaign “STOP 193.1!” which is aimed at the abolition of the article
193.1 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus. This article establishes criminal responsibility
for participation in the activities of an unregistered political party, civil or religious organization,
and envisages two years of imprisonment for such activities.
Article 193.1 prevents normal development of civil society in Belarus, especially bearing in mind
a very complicated procedure of registration of public associations and the biased approach of
the State bodies to organizations which are independent from the authorities. In fact, Article
193.1 treats any independent initiative of citizens as a crime.
Article 193.1 violates citizens' right to association and it contradicts certain provisions of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and
other international documents signed by Belarus. Apart from that, article 193.1 does not
correspond the standards regarding activities of non-governmental organizations, approved
by the Council of Europe. This is one of the obstacles for the full accession of Belarus to the
Council of Europe and for our return to the European scene.
Over the period 2006-2009 seventeen members of unregistered associations have been
sentenced to imprisonment or fines under article 193.1. No case was solved in the courts in
favour of the persons accused under article 193.1. Also hundreds of members of unregistered
associations have been questioned by the State bodies, many of them had received warnings
from prosecutors who demanded that they stopped their activities in unregistered organizations.
You and your organization can help us by sending to Belarusian governing institutions a paper
in a form of declaration, calling to abolish Article 193-1 of the Criminal Code and to exclude the
ban on the activities of unregistered public associations from all Belarusian acts of legislation.
To read the whole letter please click here
Opposition Movement in Armenia not ready to recognize results of Election of Erevan City Council as frauded
On 31st May in Erevan, Armenia have been hold the elections of the Erevan City Council
and the next major of Erevan. The official vote results announced by the Central Election
Commission on Monday 1st June showed the ruling Republican Party with nearly 48 percent
of the vote as the winners. Another governing coalition member party, Prosperous Armenia,
finished with 22.7 percent. The Oppositional Armenian National Congress - a coalition of
different oppositional movements under the leadership of former president Levon Ter
Petrosjan - getting 17.4 percent of the votes.
Oppostition parties and independent observers from mass media and non governmental
movements widely criticised the elections as clearly falsificated. "Yesterday's poll was a
real shock for us. The whole process was accompanied by infringements of different scale;
there was great crowding and stuffing at polling stations." declared Amalia Kostanyan,
head of the Armenian Transparency International Organisation. Together with the Helsinki
Citizens Assembly of Vanadzor (HCAV), representatives of the Transparency International
witnesses ballot stuffing, bribery, violence against observers and journalist and numerous
infringements.
This assessment of Armenian civil society stands in clear contradiction of the findings of the
Council of Europe."Yerevan municipal elections were largely conducted in compliance with
European standards," says the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council
of Europe. The observation mission expressed its satisfaction with the electoral processes
on a press conference held in Erevan on June 1st but their words aroused doubt among
the reporters and contributed to deepen dissatisfaction with the findings of international
election observers in Armenian society.
The Armenian National Congres declared on monday evening not to pick up their mandates
as they would not accept the election results.
For more information please see:
http://www.a1plus.am/en
http://www.coe.int/t/congress/files/themes/observation/20090531-yerevan/default_en.asp
http://www.armenianow.com/?action=viewArticle&AID=3784&CID=3631&IID=1237&lng=eng
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwrHkAfpL5U&feature=channel
Voters' protest in Moldova
After the 5th April Parliamentary elections in Moldava there have been hold mass
protests agains the allegedly manipulated election results which brought 49,5 %
for the ruling communist party. According to eye witnesses up to 15.000 mostly
young people have joined the protests on April 6th. The development turned
tragic when unsanctioned protests continued on April 7th when more than 300
protesters have been detained, two died, dozens have been hurt and allegedly
tortured being in detention.
Find here a collection of the events compiled by Moldovian journalists.
Detailed information about the background of the protest in Moldova you may
find on the livejournal of Natalia Morar, Moldovian journalist, one of the co-
organisers of the youth protests on 6th April. Today she is under house arrest,
latest information from her dates from April 10th (in Russian language).
Reports of independent election monitoring network you may find under
http://www.e-democracy.md/en/elections/parliamentary/2009/monitoring/.