[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 52 (Thursday, March 29, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E503]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 COMMEMORATING BELARUSAN INDEPENDENCE DAY BY FIGHTING FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 
                               IN BELARUS

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 29, 2012

  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, on Sunday, March 25, Belarusan-
Americans commemorated Belarusan Independence Day. On that date in 
1918, during World War I, the Belarusan National Republic was declared. 
Although independence was short-lived and Belarus forcibly subjected to 
Soviet rule, it did mark an historically significant milestone in the 
aspirations of the Belarusan people for freedom and their own unique 
identity.
  While Belarus became independent in 1991 with the dissolution of the 
Soviet Union, this independence today is under threat thanks to the 
dictatorial rule of Alexander Lukashenka, who has relentlessly 
squelched dissent, strangled democratic institutions and the rule of 
law, stifled human rights and political liberties, and refused to 
reform the Soviet-type state-dominated economy. This has made Belarus 
dangerously vulnerable to Russian influence and has greatly weakened 
its prospects for integration into the European family of nations.
  The brutal crackdown that began 15 months ago with the fraudulent 
December 19, 2010 election persists. Its most recent manifestation is 
the barring of numerous opposition leaders, human rights activists and 
independent journalists from traveling abroad--yet another in a litany 
of violations of Belarus' OSCE commitments. Especially egregious is the 
continued imprisonment of democratic opposition leaders and activists, 
and human rights defenders Andrei Sannikau, Mikalai Statekevich, 
Zmitser Bandarenka, Ales Byalyatski, Syarhei Kavalenka, Zmitser 
Dashkevich, Pavel Seviarynets, and others, many of whom face inhumane 
conditions in detention. I'd like to add my voice to those of countless 
Belarusans and Belarusan-Americans calling for the immediate and 
unconditional release of all political prisoners in Belarus.
  Mr. Speaker, in January the President signed into law the Belarus 
Democracy and Human Rights Act of 2011, which I authored. This law 
strengthens, in view of Lukashenka's crackdown, two earlier laws I 
wrote promoting democracy and supporting the Belarusan people in their 
struggle to replace the Lukashenka dictatorship with a representative 
government that will respect human rights and democratic values. But 
Congress's efforts on behalf of the Belarusan people can't end there--
I'd like to ask my colleagues to continue to raise Belarusan human 
rights issues with the administration, with foreign parliamentarians, 
and, whenever we encounter them, with officials of the Lukashenka 
dictatorship.

                          ____________________