Iryna Khalip: “US could have afforded harsher steps”
- 7.08.2008, 17:04
In the panel discussion “Courageous Voices: Speaking Out for Prisoners of Conscience” organised in New York by the US mission in the UN, the Belarusian issue was mentioned as well.
Alyaksandr Kazulin’s daughter has made a statement as well. Alyaksandr Kazulin is Lukashenka’s opponent, and presently a political prisoner. It is a rather often occasion when hearings and conferences on the situation in Belarus take place. Are they effective? What possible steps of the international community could change the situation in Belarus? The Belarusian journalist Iryna Khalip answered these questions of the Russian service of Voice of America on the phone.
“To my mind, such events are useful, as they give a possibility to inform representatives of certain international structures, foundations, governmental and non-governmental organisations about the events in this or that problematic country. For instance, you know that there is a problem of abducted opponents of the regime, but you are rather uninformed about all these problems. And you happen to visit the event where daughters of Kazulin are present. Their father is imprisoned, and their mother died before his release. They have been dismissed because they are Kazulin’s daughters. You see a concrete family which is destroyed; the fates destroyed by Lukashenka’s regime. And than you start to percieve this problem more intensely, not like an abstract problem existing in some resolutions, but as a real problem of concrete suffering people.
Unfortunately, very often international organisations are trying to put all work related to Belarus into holding such conferences and seminars. Such NGOs and foundations say: “We are helping Belarus a lot. For instance, we have held three seminars”. But I this case they are helping themselves, as they can include three more seminars in the activity report.
To my mind, everything that could be said, has been said about the current situation in Belarus. And it seems to me that the US in particular could have afforded harsher steps. Imposing sanctions against Belneftekhim concern is certainly very important. It is a serious blow, as it is impossible to destroy the dictatorship by resolutions only. Moreover, there have been adopted so many of them, that they could belt the equator. However, nothing has changed, and won’t change.
Dictatorships, usurpatory regimes like Lukashenka’s could be destroyed only with the help of economic influence. And it is good that the US have started to moved in this direction, as the pinpoint sanctions of the EU, such as ban for entering the Schengen countries, won’t change much. This won’t make another judge passing another politically motivated judgement think about whether he would be able to go abroad later, as he was a part of this system long ago”.