8.12.2008 09:27 MSK
Belarus Helsinki Committee will not attend NPO Congress in Penza
BELARUS, Minsk. The Belarussian Helsinki Committee (BKHK) will not attend the IIIrd Regional Congress of the Nongovernmental Organizations of the Countries of Eastern Europe under the aegis of the Council of Europe, planned for the beginning of December in Penza. Previously, the Moscow Helsinki Committee (MKHG) refused to participate in the forum.
Committee Chairman Ludmila Alekseyeva stated that the MKHG will not participate in the congress because the forum of nongovernmental organizations will primarily be “a meeting of human rights activists with the authorities”.
“We are in solidarity with the position of our associates from Moscow, stated BKHK Chairman Oleg Gulak of the Belorussian service of Radio Freedom. Earlier we participated in similar meetings inWarsaw and Kiev. But the fact is that the officials actually preparing the congress in Penza, instead of setting up conversation about serious issues, will use it as a ‘demonstration of loyalty’, and this does not satisfy us”.
About 50 public organizations from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and Europe have already refused to participate in the congress in Penza.
Translated by OM Kenney
PRIMA-News agency [2008-12-04-Bel-24]
