Resolution of the 24th Biennial Convention of Belarusans of North America

RESOLUTION
of the 24th Convention of Belarusans of North America
Cleveland, Ohio
September 3, 2000

WHEREAS Americans and Canadians of Belarusan origin are very concerned with the state of affairs in the country of their ancestry, Belarus, and desirous of contribution to the progress of democracy, independence and well-being of the Belarusan people; and

WHEREAS the political and economic situation in Belarus has been worsening in recent years because of the egregiously undemocratic policies of (now no longer legitimate) president Alaksandar Lukashenka; and

WHEREAS Lukashenka's dictatorial regime has been violating the constitutional foundation of the country and undermining the state sovereignty of the Republic of Belarus through a series of agreements with Moscow in order to satisfy Lukashenka's personal ambition to play a leading role in a larger Russian-Belarusan political arena; and

WHEREAS there have been a series of disappearances in Belarus of prominent opposition leaders (some of them alleged to be killed with the complicity of the government), thousands of unwarranted arrests and beatings of NGO and labor activists, countless show trials and imprisonment of opposition activists, and innumerable cases of violation of human rights of citizens; and

WHEREAS Lukashenka's government, with ethnic Russians holding key government positions, has been consistently conducting a policy of Russification by exclusive use of Russian in official business and discrimination against Belarusan national culture, Belarusan-language education and mass media; and

WHEREAS mediation by international representatives (e.g., OSCE, Council of Europe, European Parliamentary Assembly) on behalf of democracy, justice and fairness has brought no significant results (to a large degree because Moscow supports Lukashenka as its principal stooge in Belarus);

THEREFORE we, the participants in the 24th Convention of Belarusans of North America, unanimously resolve to:

CONTINUE working in defense of the Belarusan people's right to live in a democratic and independent Belarus;

EXPOSE the Lukashenka regime for what it really is -- a dictatorship that threatens the security of Western Europe and the North Atlantic Community of Democracies by acting as a willing agent of Russian imperialism;

WORK toward consolidation of the democratic opposition to the Lukashenka regime both in Belarus and abroad;

URGE American and Canadian authorities and the business communities to exert more pressure on official Minsk to put an end to the persecution of defenders of democracy and national culture in Belarus as well as the cultures of national and religious minorities, and to respect the country's right for independence;

EXPRESS GRATITUDE to the United States Congress for passing Resolution 304 which condemned political oppression in Belarus and called upon the U.S. Government to act, both in Minsk and Moscow, on behalf of democracy in Belarus and preservation of its sovereignty and independence;

TO THANK PERSONALLY Congressmen Sam Gejdenson, Christopher H. Smith and Benjamin Gilman and Senators Jesse Helms, Ben Nighthorse Campbell and Richard Durbin, as well as Messrs. Harold H. Koh, Ross Wilson and John L. Armstrong of the State Department, and many other officials within the U.S. Government and Congress, for their outstanding contribution to the defense of democracy in Belarus and the country's independence.