Briefing ambassadors, Caroline Ziadeh, Special Representative of the Secretary-General cited a “serious” incident on 24 September, that saw five people – including a Kosovo police officer – killed and others injured. “[These events] exacerbated an already deteriorating security environment, characterized by an atmosphere of mutual suspicion and contradictory perceptions touching much of the population,” she
Read MoreUN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, called the Public Order Bill “deeply troubling legislation”, after it completed its passage through parliament on Wednesday. “It is especially worrying that the law expands the powers of the police to stop and search individuals, including without suspicion; defines some of the new criminal offences in a
Read MoreThe Aarhus Convention, adopted in 1998, also requires that individuals exercising these rights are not persecuted, penalized or harassed for doing so. Belarus’s President Aleksandr Lukashenko signed a decree on 18 July effectively ending the country’s participation. Withdrawal is scheduled to take effect on 24 October, in line with article 21 of the Convention. Strengthening
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