Moscow Mechanism rapporteur reports to OSCE Permanent Council on alleged human rights violations in Belarus

The OSCE Moscow Mechanism rapporteur Wolfgang Benedek presented his report to the OSCE Permanent Council on 5 November 2020 concerning alleged human rights violations related to the 9 August presidential elections in Belarus.

Benedek, a professor of international law at the University of Graz, was appointed rapporteur by the 17 OSCE participating States that invoked the OSCE’s Moscow Mechanism in September following the presidential election in Belarus and widespread claims of a subsequent deterioration in the human rights situation there.

The Mechanism, agreed by consensus by the OSCE participating States, allows for an investigation to be launched without consensus and independently of the OSCE Chairmanship, 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 includes numerous recommendations, is available here.