Constitutional Referendum in Belarus: UK statement

Mr Chair, we thank the Delegation of Belarus for adding this issue to today’s agenda and for providing additional information to the Permanent Council. We will report those comments back to our colleagues in London.

The UK continues to follow developments in Belarus closely. We have regularly expressed our concerns about the situation in Belarus, and have urged the Belarusian authorities to fully implement its OSCE commitments and to make use of the OSCE’s tools and mechanisms. That includes engaging constructively with OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) as well as taking up the offer of the current and previous Chairs-in-Office to facilitate a genuine national dialogue. We were disappointed to hear that Belarus has no plans to invite ODIHR to assist, including to observe the referendum. We continue to believe that it is through such actions that Belarus will be able resolve the continuing crisis.