Belarusian Warming

A description of improved human rights in the former Soviet Republic.

The sense that Belarus is becoming more democratic was challenged when two Belarussian cities banned demonstrations opposing homophobia and discrimination; one activist told the Web site, Pride!:

“Some are calling this time period ‘Belarussian Warming’ under the belief that the government is becoming more open to individual rights but these decisions don’t support that belief. From the very beginning we did not have much hope to receive a positive answer but the decisions of the Gomel and Minsk City Administrations proved that it is too early to talk about any kind of democratization in the country.”

In a recent article for The Financial Times, Tony Barber discussed the European Union’s predicament in dealing with “Europe’s last dictatorship.”

At a meeting of E.U. foreign ministers on Monday in Brussels, the main questions will be how to interpret Mr Lukashenko’s [Belarus's president] recent gestures in the direction of political liberalization. …

All E.U. countries realize that if Belarus is left in the cold, it is at risk of falling under even stronger Russian influence than now, compromising its independence. But several countries, especially the Netherlands, are not convinced Belarus’s reforms have gone far enough.

Barber outlined some of the Belarus’s efforts to improve political freedom:

Among recent steps are a decision to let two opposition newspapers be sold through the state-run distribution network, and the establishment of public “consultative councils” for the discussion of human rights and media freedom.

Yet, Barber quoted an opposition leader who cautioned:

“The democratic community here saw some recent government steps as positive, but the problem is they are all reversible in five minutes,” he said. “We know Lukashenko is playing a difficult and complex game, but his essence hasn’t changed.”