Kõne: 18th Economic Forum

Thursday, 11.09.2008, 12:31 / SEISUKOHAD / RSS

Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Belarus has been countless times called “the last dictatorship in the heart of
Europe” and this remains so today. But there are some signs that indicate the
possibility for change. The upcoming parliamentary elections will be a real
test case for Belarus and will show either these signs of change can be taken
seriously or not. Nevertheless, Europe’s task is to find most effective ways
how to engage Belarus and promote a transformation to democracy.
We have some good news from Belarus – the last political prisoners have
been released. I welcome this step of the Belarusian government, but cannot
overlook the shortcomings in media freedom, harassment of the opposition
and human rights issues.
Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights states:
“Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall
include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all
kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form
of art, or through any other media of his choice.”
I am quite sure that president Lukashenko is well aware of the stipulations of
the Covenant. However, he and his government have chosen to ignore them
by introducing the new law on mass media in June. This law tightens even
further the media freedom, including the use of internet. This kind of action
is far from the treatment of media in the democratic societies. People of
Belarus are deprived of the most natural part of our daily lives in the 21st
century – information from multiple and different sources.
Furthermore, in the Report of the Belarus Task Force we defined the lack of
independent and non censored information on Belarus as the burning issue.
The Government exercises complete control in this field.
And here Europe can help at least a little. On the International Human
Rights Day last year (10 December 2007) Belsat TV started broadcasting.
The motto of this channel is “Belsat – your right to choose” that I find
extremely relevant.
The programmes on this channel are created by 70 journalists from Belarus,
Poland and Lithuania. Belarusian journalists who are involved in this project
are very courageous. They work under continued suppression. In March this year the KGB and police of Belarus carried out several raids on the local
journalists who work for Belsat. Their laptops and technical equipment was
confiscated. The journalists live in constant fear of interrogation and arrest.
The situation reminds me the worst times behind the iron curtain.
Belsat is a wonderful endeavour but good television needs lot of resources.
The channel is mainly financed by the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs
and I believe that we all acknowledge Poland for that. But the station aims to
obtain the financial means from the other foreign partners. I urge the
governments and public televisions of the EU member states and other
countries to support this very praiseworthy undertaking financially and
morally. I am sure our all-round support for the Belsat TV will be for greater
good of Belarusian people.
Another topic I would like to discuss with you is the dialogue with the
Belarusian regime. By releasing the political prisoners Belarus has met one
of the most important preconditions set by the EU. In addition Belarus has
not given in/deferred to Russia’s pressure to recognize Southern-Ossetia and
Abkhazia. All this needs adequate response from the EU and gives ground to
deepen the dialogue. What’s more the current policy of isolation and
punishment has been ineffective.
We at the Task Force know that it is a tricky path to take. We are walking on
the eggshells if we have talks with the authorities and encourage them to
undertake reforms and at the same time not condoning still massive human
rights abuses. There is also a threat that we will alienate the opposition
forces and make them feel betrayed by us.
Nonetheless, there should be dialogue with Belarusian authorities and we
must do everything possible to explain to the opposition and the civil society
why we think this is the way to go. There is no doubt that the opposition and
the civil society should be the integral part of the process. As we say in our
Report: “There is no progress possible without the consent and active
participation of them in the entire process.”
This brings me to my third and final topic – strengthening the civil society of
Belarus. Or to be more exact, one small but important aspect in that process
– the visa policy of the EU.
I just said that the civil society must be in every way involved in the
democratization of Belarus. To be active people need a broader outlook on
life. They need to travel and see and learn new things. This will strengthen
the civil society as a whole.
But to travel Belarusian people need visa. Getting the Schengen visa is
complicated and time consuming and very costly. The price of 60 euros
would be quite high for some people from the EU member states not to
speak about Belarusians. I, and also my colleagues of the Task Force, firmly
believe that the visa fee for Belarusians should be reduced so more people
can afford to visit our countries.
There should also be some kind of visa facilitation to certain categories of
people, for example students, teachers, lecturers, people involved in cultural
exchange etc. We do not punish the present regime but we punish Belarusian
people by having a very strict visa policy. Even more, we help the regime to
keep their people in the dark and deprive from the opportunities to broaden
their horizon.
Of course, there are several other ways to strengthen the civil society. Let me
bring you an example from my country. We have given the Belarusian
students expelled from universities for political reasons an opportunity to
continue their studies in Estonia. Currently there are 12 students studying in
Estonian universities and this programme continues until 2011. Hopefully,
these young people will become the future leaders of Belarus.
For a long time Belarus has been looking towards the past rather than the
future. It is high time for a change, Belarusian people want it and they
deserve it. This can be done with mutual efforts of Europe and Belarus.
When we act together, it is only a matter of time when Belarus rejoins
Europe as a proud, free nation.