OSCE Minsk Head "gravely concerned" at closure of private university by Belarus

MINSK, 29 July 2004 - The Head of the OSCE Office in Minsk, Ambassador Eberhard Heyken, has expressed his grave concern over the closure of the European Humanities University (EHU) in Minsk, which yesterday led to a protest by several hundred students.

"The liquidation of the EHU contradicts the basic principles of the OSCE, which is committed to international co-operation, academic freedom and tolerance" said Dr. Heyken in the Belarusian capital.

His reaction came to an announcement on 27 July by the Minister of Education of Belarus, Alexander Radkov, annulling the University's licence, which had been renewed in May 2004. This was the final step in a series of measures undertaken by the Belarusian authorities against the University since January of this year.

The crisis around the University accelerated in the last two weeks as the Education Minister repeated a demand for the immediate resignation of Professor Anatoliy Mikhailov from his position of Rector of the EHU on 19 July.

Two days later, on 21 July, the EHU received a letter from the Presidential Administration which notified the EHU on termination of rent of the academic building and demanded that it vacate the building before 5 August.

The OSCE Office in Minsk is directly affected by the closure of the EHU. It contributes with its activities to the functioning of a Centre for European and Transatlantic Studies" (CETAS) project, established in 2000 in the framework of the European Commission/OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights Programme on Belarus.