The UN Human Rights Committee confirmed on Thursday that it received an unprecedented number of individual complaints in 2023. Many of these complaints address issues concerning freedom of expression and the press, as well as the treatment of opposition leaders during elections.
As of now, the committee is investigating 1,321 individual complaints, 268 of which were lodged in 2023. The complaints are examined under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). Tania Abdo Rocholl, the Chair of the Committee, expressed concern over the overall trend in complaints, stating the increasing number of complaints depict a disturbing trend of tightened civic space for people’s expressions and participation in peaceful assemblies.
The committee highlighted a number of cases from Belarus, one of which involves Pavel Katorzhevsky filing a complaint concerning Belarus’s Law on Countering Extremism. Katorzhevsky alleges that he was prosecuted under this law for posting a link to an article on his social media. The court in Belarus declared the article contained ‘extremist’ sentiments without any individualized assessment of Katorzhevsky’s case. See the complete case here.
In a second case from Belarus, 2020 presidential candidate Viktar Babaryka was arrested during the process of submitting the signatures required to be included on the presidential ballot. He was denied access to a lawyer, and his trial was delayed, which the committee found to be in violation of Babaryka’s rights to due process and freedom from arbitrary detention.
The UN Human Rights Committee’s revelations come as Belarus continues to face heightened criticisms over alleged human rights violations, including allegations of property seizures against opposition political figures, journalists and activists’ unjust detentions and imprisonment, and multiple suspicious deaths of alleged political prisoners.
Freedom of press concerns were also raised in Kyrgyzstan. In a notable case, the editor-in-chief of an internet news website was sued for publishing a speech criticizing the country’s president. The committee found the restrictions imposed on Dina Maslova’s right to freedom of expression neither necessary nor proportionate. At the same time, the EU and the UN Human Rights Office have expressed concern over the increasing raids on journalists and their overall detention.