(ENG) In 2018-2019, PEN Belarus developed a methodology for collecting and summarising information on the culture sector in Belarus and embarked on a long-term monitoring project. This work was inspired by our desire to fill the gap in systematic and up-to-date information about the realisation of cultural rights in Belarus. The socio-political crisis that began in the country in 2020 affected significantly the content of the monitoring reports. Massive human rights violations, seriously involving cultural figures and organisations, made PEN Belarus reformat its monitoring. Responding to the challenges of reality, we began to consider not only cultural rights in the classical sense but also to record human rights violations against cultural figures and cultural organisations. The monitoring covers the entire territory of Belarus and focuses on cultural figures from various spheres.
Goal: systematically record the cases of cultural rights violations and human rights violations of cultural figures in Belarus.
Monitoring tasks: record facts and describe trends; make a public annual report on the realisation of cultural rights and human rights of cultural figures; based on the collected information and in interaction with associations and cultural figures, provide practical assistance in the realisation and restoration of violated rights; participate in the formation of cultural policy (both during the normal operation of democratic institutions and in conditions of a crisis).
Main notions:
A violation of cultural rights and human rights of cultural figures is a situation of illegal action or inaction by state authorities, administration and courts concerning cultural figures, organisations, cultural heritage, and citizens.
A violated right (within a specific violation) is every established violation of the rights and freedoms of cultural figures, as per the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The types of violated rights and freedoms refer to the human rights glossary terms: freedom of assembly, freedom of expression, freedom of association, freedom of information, right to work, and others by adding tags (labels): for example, “arbitrary detention”, “conditions of confinement in closed institutions”, “censorship”, “criminal prosecution”, “administrative obstruction to activity”, “designated as an extremist”, “deportation”, “confiscation of property”, “historical heritage”, “culture of memory”, etc.
Legal persons featured in the monitoring with regard to recorded violations:
1. Cultural figures and persons whose cultural rights were violated.
Cultural figures from various creative fields are divided into the following categories: writers and People of the Word (in 2020, the category was called ‘Writers’), musicians, artists, photographers, theatre workers, cinema workers, museum workers (in 2020, they were included in the “Others” category), cultural managers, the academic community (this category was introduced in 2021), other cultural workers (tour guides, artisans, local historians, dancers, activists working with the culture of memory, and others), as well as citizens whose linguistic rights or rights to participate in cultural life were violated.
NB: The Writers and People of the Word are the priority when assigning a cultural figure to a particular creative field. The People of the Word include writers, translators, literature researchers, publicists, intellectuals, and those who create and expand culture and defend the word and wordsmiths. The monitoring does not cover journalists and bloggers, including PEN International’s target group.
2. Cultural organisations and communities
Creative unions, music bands, authoring teams, professional and amateur collectives, non-profit organisations, communities, cultural venues and other groups of people.
3. Cultural heritage
Historical and cultural heritage objects (which do not necessarily have the status of historical and cultural heritage) and facts of discredit and discrimination of the Belarusian language in general.
Sources of information:
- Monitoring publicly available national and regional media, both state-owned and non-state, between 10 and 25 websites at various periods. The list is revised once or twice a year due to the crackdown on independent media, the forced closure of their editorial offices, the reduction of the volume of unique information or other changes in the content of the websites.
At the monitoring launch in the autumn of 2019, the tracked websites included Tut.by, Naša Niva, Belsat, Onliner, Naviny.by, Radio Svaboda, Zviazda, Kultura, Litaratura i Mastactva. In 2020–2021, the following news media were added to the list: SB. Belarus Segodnia, Narodnaja Volia, Naša Slova, Hrodna.life, Silnyie Novosti, Rehijanalnaja Hazieta, Mogiliov online, Narodnyja Naviny Viciebska, Brestskaya Gazeta, Reform.by, Novy Čas, and the websites of the Viasna Human Rights Centre and all its regional branches. By the end of 2023, the following websites were the primary sources of information about human rights violations: Viasna Human Rights Centre, media outlets Naša Niva, Belsat, Zerkalo, Radio Svaboda, Reform.by, Hrodna.life, Flagshtok, Mediazona, Pozirk, Euroradio, Belarusian Association of Journalists, and Dissidentby. To track state policy trends, monitors scan the websites of the state-owned news agency BelTA and the Zviazda newspaper.
- Monitoring social media pages and Telegram channels of professional and regional cultural communities, including the ones run by pro-government bloggers and security agencies (10-15 channels)
- Communication with creative associations and initiatives across Belarus (around 20 partner contacts) and non-public conversations with cultural figures.
- Communication with Belarusian human rights organisations
- Personal inquiries and active observation – for example, at the trials of cultural figures (currently, not relevant);
- Experts’ round tables (October 2020);
- Analysis of lists (since 2021): monitoring forcibly liquidated public associations (carried out by Lawtrend), List of Organisations and Physical Persons Involved in Terrorist Activities (KGB), List of Citizens of the Republic of Belarus, Foreign Citizens and Non-citizens Involved in Extremist Activities (Interior Ministry), List of Organization, Formations, Self-Employed Entrepreneurs Involved in Extremist Activities (Interior Ministry), List of Extremist Materials (Information Ministry).
The websites and Telegram channels from the list of tracked sources are monitored daily. Information obtained through personal communication with cultural figures, direct appeals to PEN or from professional communities is recorded upon receipt. The lists of terrorists, extremists and extremist materials are analysed once a month.
Analysis and advocacy:
The monitoring is long-term. The methodology of collecting and summarising data allows up-to-date information about violations at every moment for current use by PEN Belarus or at the request of interested parties. The central monitoring document is the annual report on monitoring the realisation of cultural rights and human rights violations against cultural figures. In addition, PEN Belarus publishes quarterly reviews.
The results of PEN Belarus’ monitoring efforts are public. They are used by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the UN Special Rapporteur on Belarus, the Special Rapporteur on Cultural Rights, human rights activists, politicians, researchers and the interested public. The main strength of the report is in the PEN International system and its country branches. It is an integral part of international ties, based on shared values and a common organisational culture, built on protecting cultural rights in an inseparable connection with human rights.
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Changes in the methodology
Target group:
1. In 2022, the target group of cultural figures was expanded to include teachers/lecturers of Russian and foreign languages. Before that, only teachers/lecturers of the Belarusian language and literature were considered.
Violations and violated rights:
2. In 2020, the right to use (non-prohibited) symbols was recorded in the central monitoring as a “type of cultural rights violation.” From 2021 on, it became a separate monitoring section titled “Persecution for symbols”.
3. In 2020–2021, the forced departure of cultural figures from Belarus was recorded as a separate violation. From 2022 on, it was to current trends. It is not taken into account in the general statistics of violations because it is impossible to state with certainty what triggered the departure of a particular cultural figure.
4. In 2022, the tags “administrative persecution” and “culture of memory” were introduced. The “recognised as a political prisoner” tag was abolished.
5. In 2021, the cases of the Information Ministry designating books as “extremist materials” were recorded as censorship. From 2022 on, we introduced the tag “designated as extremist material”.
Comments for methodology:
1) The “Persecution for dissent” tag is given to cases of politically motivated dismissals or demotions, expulsions from educational institutions, summoning of cultural figures to “preventive interviews” and interrogations, persecution of persons who fled the country, destruction of apartments, searches and confiscation of property, as well as detentions, the outcome of which remains unknown to us.
2) The cases of cultural censorship are tagged as “censorship”.
3) The facts of state policy implementation are recorded as tendencies and trends of the state policy in the field of culture and not taken into account in the overall volume of violations.
4) The total number of violations, the number of cultural figures and organisations whose rights were violated, etc., are not final but represent the lower limit of the number of violations of cultural rights and human rights of cultural figures.