Thirty-eight OSCE Participating States - including Italy - activated the Vienna Mechanism for the request and exchange of information on the situation of political prisoners in Belarus and the implementation of the recommendations put forward in the independent report presented last year under the OSCE Moscow Mechanism.
The activation of the Vienna Mechanism in fact follows the report on the situation of human rights in Belarus, published in May 2023 following the invocation of the Moscow Mechanism by 38 participating States, including Italy. The report, prepared by independent expert Prof. Hervé Ascensio (France), provides a detailed analysis of the legislative and administrative measures taken by the Belarusian authorities since 2020 with the aim of "preventing any form of opposition or, more simply, any alternative and ensuring control over the whole society".
The report includes recommendations to the Belarusian authorities and the international community, in particular regarding the urgency of releasing political prisoners on humanitarian grounds.
The Vienna Mechanism is an instrument of the OSCE, established in 1989, for the exchange of information between participating states within the framework of the human dimension. By invoking the Vienna Mechanism, one or more Participating States can request information from another Participating State on issues related to the implementation of human rights, democracy and rule of law commitments.
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