Belarus /
RPF This sets a precedent in the Committee's case law against Belarus.
On 19 March 2024, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) requested Belarus to take urgent measures to protect Palina Sharenda-Panasiuk.
For reference: CEDAW interim measures is a special procedure that allows the Committee, at any time after the receipt of an individual communication and before determination on its merits, to transmit to the State party concerned, for its urgent consideration, a request to take such interim measures as the Committee considers necessary to avoid irreparable damage to the victim or victims of the alleged violations.
In January 2024, the CEDAW registered Andrei Sharenda's complaint against Belarus on discrimination of his wife Palina Sharenda-Panasiuk, who was unlawfully convicted of allegedly insulting the state officials and using violence against a police officer, and later twice for malicious disobedience to the orders of the administration of the penal colony. Palina is serving her sentence in a penal colony in Belarus and has been detained in unbearable conditions all this time: she was repeatedly placed in a punishment cell, the administration kept parcels (including medical parcels with the medicines she needed) and correspondence from her; she was not given bed linen or mattress, so she had to sleep on the floor, there was no heating and hot water in the cells. Being incarcerated in inhumane conditions greatly affected Palina and significantly worsened her health, but the colony administration did not respond to numerous requests to ensure her access to the necessary medical care. Since 8 January 2024, there has been no communication with Palina: there was no correspondence from her, and the lawyer was not allowed to see her.
Since prolonged stay in inhumane conditions without medical care and without contact with the outside world has adverse effects on the physical and psychological health of prisoners, the Respect-Protect-Fulfill's lawyers appealed to CEDAW with a request to take interim measures in the case. The Committee agreed with our arguments and issued a request for Belarus to “take urgent measures to provide a comprehensive and appropriate medical care to Palina Sharenda-Panasiuk, and to ensure that her life, physical and mental integrity are safeguarded”. CEDAW interim measures are binding.
The provision of interim measures in this case is an important step in the development of CEDAW case law against the authorities of Belarus, since this is the first case in the history of the work of Belarusian human rights lawyers with this mechanism.
CEDAW is the international body that monitors compliance with the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. Belarus has been a party to this Convention since 1981. Lodging individual complaints to CEDAW is one of the few remaining avenues for Belarusians to have recognition of violation of their rights through international legal mechanisms.
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Respect-Protect-Fulfil is a Belarusian independent non-governmental non-profit human rights organization based in Lithuania. We promote human rights in Belarus and beyond through impact litigation in public interest. We work with the UN and other international mechanisms prioritizing issues, which have not been under their scrutiny.
