Uladzimir Labkovich
Uladzimir Labkovich is a prominent human rights defender from Belarus, a lawyer with Human Rights Centre Viasna, and coordinator of the "Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections" campaign, a campaign that aims to assess local elections from the viewpoint of the Belarusian electoral legislation and international standards of free and democratic elections and to inform the Belarusian public and international community about the observation results.
The environment for the work of human rights defenders (HRDs) in Belarus has continuously deteriorated since an authoritarian political regime was established there in 1994. HRDs are systematically subjected to intimidation and harassment, including judicial harassment, restrictions on freedom of expression, association and assembly, and movement, as well as arbitrary detention and conviction, ill-treatment and defamation, searches of offices and personal belongings, and confiscations of equipment. The widespread impunity of law enforcement officers contributes to even further human rights violations and retaliations against HRDs.
