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An appeal to the European institutions, international community and all the people of goodwill
We, the members and the supporters of the Brest branch of the Polish Union in Belarus (Związek Polaków na Białorusi – ZPB) express our great concern over the recent reprisals of the Belarusian authorities undertaken against our Union. The example of ZPB is another clear proof of violation of fundamental human rights and rights of a citizen in Belarus: - since 2005 our Union is not recognized by the Belarusian authorities, who one-sidedly revoked the results of the VI congress of ZPB (this decision is in violation of the art. 5, of the 6th Act of the Republic of Belarus “About associations” dated October 4, 1994, no. 3254-XII) and using leverage pressure, they have called to life a new, completely dependent body, which appropriated our name and the assets of our Union, while not representing the interests of anybody else than the Belarusian state - in February of 2010, the “Polish House” (“Dom Polski”) in a small town of Iwieniec (in the vicinity of Minsk) was taken away from us by force, with many of our friends and members arrested on the spot - after numerous, farce trials in court, a company called “Polonika”, which represents the ZPB circles, was fined with insurmountable amounts of money, for what’s been deemed as “illegal humanitarian aid” Humanitarian aid, which in majority of the world is rather a cause for gratitude becomes a reason for shutting down a company that provides it… All of this is happening right now in the geographic center of Europe, in a country neighboring with the European Union, and one that is officially declaring its readiness to develop partnership relations with it. Could these really come at the cost of our basic rights – the freedom of the Belarusian citizens of Polish descent? Are we to become hostages, whose fate is decided by indifference, which in turn makes us worthless and negligible? Is abandoning a well renown and merited Polish minority organization, a really effective groundwork for a new chapter in the relations between Belarus and Poland and the EU? We all live on one continent. It is the beginning of the XXI century. Twenty years ago the Soviet Union fell apart. Europe, with a great input of Poland – a Land of our forefathers, accomplishes the grand task of unification and stabilization, which derives from respecting the universal set of human and citizen rights. Perhaps in many European nations it is hard to imagine, that what we write about, is really taking place. We do not have the freedom to act, as we need to abide by the unacceptable regulations imposed on us. Even our cooperation with the Polish consulate causes many stipulations as well as an over the top, negative reaction from the authorities. We are the citizens of a second category in our own, independent country, with which we are tied by both: the history and the present day. As a Brest branch of the Polish Union in Belarus we appeal to You and kindly ask for Your help: - do not allow us to have our basic human rights violated any further, especially in the light of our painful experiences thus far - protest against the violation of binding international norms in Belarus - do not agree to feed Your sense of security with human suffering, by turning the blind eye on the destruction of an entire community and the incapacitation of an organization of such beautiful past and an extraordinary legacy We want to believe that we are not alone in this tough situation. We hope that You will voice Your protest towards the undeniable facts of violation of human rights. In our opinion we have the right to function and continue our work for the sake of the Belarusian society and the Polish minority in the Brest district. And what’s most important to us: We truly, deeply believe that You will not abandon us in these dark and dire times…! Polish Union in Belarus – Brest branch |
