Resolution of the Conference of the National Platform of the EaP CSF (16.11.2012)

Based on the results of Conference of the National Platform of the EaP CSF, that took place in Minsk on November 16, the participants have adopted a resolution, which full text is offered at the site.

Resolution

of the Conference of the National Platform
of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum:

“On the eve of the fourth annual meeting of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum”

Minsk, November 16, 2012

We, the participants of the Conference of the National Platform of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum, based on the grounds of the Memorandum on Cooperation within the Belarusan National Platform of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum, sharing values and goals of the EU initiative Eastern Partnership:

• Declare our intention to promote the expansion of the EU-Belarusan cooperation;
• State that the main obstacle to the development of such cooperation is the attitude and the actions of the Belarusan authorities, including holding political prisoners, repressions of social and political activists, absence of the will to cooperation on signing of agreements related to the launch of the visa dialogue and small cross-border movement, despite the respective proposals of the European Union;
• Strongly protest against the persecution of civil society activists and other political prisoners, including members of the National Platform of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum. We insist on the immediate release of human rights defender Ales Bialiatski, stopping the criminal prosecution of the youth association “Union of Young Intellectuals” headed by Andrei Gaidukou, and termination of the undue pressure and attempts to eliminate the international public association “Good will”;
• Demand to stop the prosecution of journalist Andrzej Poczobut, express concern about the pressure on the intellectual magazine “ARCHE” and persecution of its editor Valer Bulgakau. We believe that such action is of irreversible damage to the Belarusan cultural and intellectual community, and urge their termination;
• Consider the EU initiative European dialogue on modernization with Belarusan society as significant and a potential instrument of democratic transformation in the country. This initiative is all the more important and relevant, as it is also a catalyst for a number of processes within the Eastern Partnership framework. We would welcome the expansion of the role and participation level of the National Platform of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum in the European dialogue on modernization with Belarus.

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