A meeting was held in Vilnius between representatives of the Belarusian democratic forces and Secretary General of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe Mathieu Mori. The meeting was attended by representatives of the office of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the United Transitional Cabinet, and civil society initiatives.
Tsikhanouskaya’s adviser on parliamentary cooperation Anatol Liabedzka spoke about work on draft versions of the Constitution and a law on local self-government, proposed expanding the network of local-level “For Democratic Belarus” parliamentary groups, and suggested holding a conference involving European mayors.
Adviser on science and education Pavel Tserashkovich drew attention to the scale of political persecution in the education sector and to bureaucratic barriers limiting assistance to repressed teachers and students.
Representative of the United Transitional Cabinet for social policy Volha Zazulinskaya noted that repression inside Belarus is not stopping and is taking on an increasingly criminalized character. She raised issues concerning Belarusians in Georgia and Ukraine, as well as the problem of annulled passports for deported political prisoners.
Deputy representative for social policy Yulia Mitskevich agreed to include gender equality as a cross-cutting component in local self-government training programs and also discussed organizing internships for young people where they could study European standards of non-discrimination and public administration in practice. The internships will be organized in cooperation with the Council of Europe and Representative for Youth Policy Marharyta Vorykhava.
Coordinator of the “Volnyya” initiative Veranika Stankevich presented an analysis of the problems former political prisoners face when adapting in the EU and proposed moving support to a systemic level through municipal programs.
Following the meeting, the Belarusian democratic forces proposed signing a memorandum of cooperation. They also put forward the idea of developing “Vilnius solutions” modeled on the Luxembourg solutions — practical recommendations for mayors and municipalities on supporting Belarusians. Possible assistance from the Congress in helping former political prisoners reintegrate into society after release was also discussed, the Office of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya reported.