Moscow Mechanism expert report to OSCE Permanent Council on Belarus

Today the OSCE Moscow Mechanism rapporteur Professor Hervé Ascensio presented his findings to the OSCE Permanent Council, collected in his report entitled ‘Report on the serious threat to the OSCE human dimension in Belarus since 5 November 2020’.

Ascensio was appointed rapporteur by the 38 participating States that invoked the OSCE’s Moscow Mechanism on 23 March to examine “threats to the fulfilment of the provisions of the human dimension posed by human rights violations and abuses in the Republic of Belarus”.

The Mechanism, agreed by consensus by all OSCE participating States, allows for an investigation to be launched without consensus and independently of the OSCE Chairpersonship, institutions and decision-making bodies if one State, supported by at least nine others, "considers that a particularly serious threat to the fulfilment of the provisions of the [OSCE] human dimension has arisen in another participating State".

The Permanent Council is one of the OSCE’s main decision-making bodies, and convenes each week in Vienna to discuss developments in the OSCE area and make decisions on future activities.

The report, which contains numerous recommendations, is available here.