{"id":541633,"date":"2026-05-12T21:49:29","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T18:49:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reform.news\/?p=541633"},"modified":"2026-05-13T09:54:47","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T06:54:47","slug":"council-of-europe-information-point-for-belarusians-opens-in-vilnius","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/council-of-europe-information-point-for-belarusians-opens-in-vilnius","title":{"rendered":"Council of Europe Information Point for Belarusians Opens in Vilnius"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

On May 12, a Council of Europe Information Point for Belarusians opened in Vilnius, Lithuania. It is a joint initiative of Lithuania and the Council of Europe and the first permanent Council of Europe platform for Belarusians in exile.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe center will become a place where Belarusians can receive information about human rights, support programs, educational and cultural opportunities, as well as establish cooperation with European institutions,\u201d<\/i> the Office of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya<\/b> reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Information Point is located in the building of the National Library of Lithuania. The platform is expected to operate for at least five years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope this place will become another center for Belarusian initiatives, a platform for learning and a source of knowledge. It should be open to every Belarusian and every organization seeking partnership, expertise, and opportunities that only the Council of Europe can provide.<\/i><\/p>\n

I want this place to become a platform for cooperation, dialogue, education, and solidarity. I hope it will help draw more attention to Belarus, mobilize new resources, and create opportunities for our talented journalists, activists, lawyers, human rights defenders, youth, and women\u2019s initiatives,\u201d<\/i> Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya<\/b> said at the opening ceremony.<\/p>\n

Those attending the opening included Council of Europe Secretary General Alain Berset<\/b>, Lithuanian Foreign Minister K\u0119stutis Budrys<\/b>, representatives of the diplomatic corps, and members of the Belarusian community.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Photo: Tsikhanouskaya\u2019s Office<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
Photo: Tsikhanouskaya\u2019s Office<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
Photo: Tsikhanouskaya\u2019s Office<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
Photo: Tsikhanouskaya\u2019s Office<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
Photo: Tsikhanouskaya\u2019s Office<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On May 12, a Council of Europe Information Point for Belarusians opened in Vilnius, Lithuania. It is a joint initiative of Lithuania and the Council of Europe and the first permanent Council of Europe platform for Belarusians in exile. \u201cThe center will become a place where Belarusians can receive information about human rights, support programs, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":541632,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sharing_image":{"poster":"https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/6a042040009f4.jpg","width":1200,"height":630,"template":"691142dd","mode":"auto"},"_sharing_image_fieldset":{"dTVKfmI95PYT":"Council of Europe Information Point for Belarusians Opens in Vilnius"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[142339,142338,143284,143090],"tags":[143118,143172],"class_list":["post-541633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-main","category-news","category-world","category-politics","tag-belarus","tag-svetlana-tihanovskaja"],"wps_subtitle":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541633","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=541633"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541633\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/541632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=541633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=541633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=541633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}