Letter to Belarussian Journalists on the Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists
Today – 2nd of November – is the International day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists.
The United Nations General Assembly designated this day in 2013 by a resolution. In this resolution, the UN General Assembly condemned all violence against media professionals - explicitly also in the form of arbitrary detention – and called on states, among other things, to promote a safe environment for media professionals in which they can carry out their work independently and without undue interference.
Today, 33 journalists and media workers are unjustly imprisoned in Belarus. Their voices are sorely missed in the public sphere of Belarus. The various repressions against journalists and media workers in Belarus constitute a violation of international obligations to which Belarus, as a member state of the United Nations and a participating state of the OSCE, is committed itself. A letter has been sent to each and every one of the 33 media workers wrongly detained in Belarus today. Not a single one of these brave voices has been forgotten. None will be forgotten.
The signatories of the letter are representatives of the German, Austria, Bulgarian, Czech, Estonian, Finnish, French, Italian, Dutch, Romanian, Polish, Swedish, Swiss, and British embassies & embassy offices in Minsk.
The governments of the undersigned diplomats are united in the demand that the political prisoners in Belarus must finally be released.
The text of the letter, which will not remain private anyway due to the postal inspection in prison, is documented below.
English translation of the letter
Dear Madam / Dear Sir,
November 2 is the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists. The United Nations General Assembly designated this day in 2013 by a resolution. In this resolution, the UN General Assembly condemned all violence against media professionals - explicitly also in the form of arbitrary detention – and called on states, among other things, to promote a safe environment for media professionals in which they can carry out their work independently and without undue interference.
We address this letter to you as a media representative and send it to the address of a prison in which you are unjustly imprisoned. This injustice hurts, and it is outrageous. Today, we are thinking in particular of you, of your relatives, of your friends and of your colleagues. They miss their loved ones for who they are, and the Belarusian public misses them for the independent journalistic voice.
The various repressions against journalists and media workers in Belarus constitute a violation of international obligations to which Belarus, as a member state of the United Nations and a participating state of the OSCE, has committed itself. The United Nations regards the freedom of speech as a driving force for the realisation of all other human rights. Without the freedom of speech, there is no information, transparency and control that makes the realisation of all other human rights possible in the first place. It is no coincidence that the preamble to the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights lists the freedom of speech as the first of the four fundamental freedoms.
As a media worker, you have stood up for the freedom of speech in Belarus, and did so with great courage. The fact that you are imprisoned for this today is a blatant injustice. Our governments are united in calling for the political prisoners in Belarus to finally be released.
We wish you health, strength and as many bright moments as possible. We are thinking about you today, and we are closely watching your fate in the current situation – every single day.
Warm regards,
Signatories