Upcoming Constitutional Referendum In Belarus: joint statement

Mr. Chairperson,

I am delivering this statement on behalf of Albania, Iceland, Montenegro, Norway, North Macedonia, Switzerland, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, the United States, the European Union member states, and my own country Canada.

The delegation of Belarus has informed this Council that there will be a planned constitutional referendum in Belarus in the second half of February. In this regard, our delegations would like to ask the delegation of Belarus the following two questions:

1) As many of our states have benefitted from the legal support the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) can provide, is Belarus intending to request ODIHR’s legal assessment of the proposed changes to the Belarusian constitution?

2) Is Belarus intending to invite ODIHR to monitor the referendum, in a way that allows for proper observation in line with ODIHR’s methodology?

Thank you.