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Belarusian Opposition
The Belarusian opposition consists of groups and individuals in Belarus seeking to challenge, from 1988 to 1991, the authorities of Soviet Belarus, and since 1995, the leader of the country Alexander Lukashenko, whom supporters of the movement often consider to be a dictator. Supporters of the movement tend to call for a parliamentary democracy based on a Western model, with freedom of speech and political and religious pluralism. Background The modern Belarusian democracy movement originated in the late 1980s when Mikhail Gorbachev's Perestroika and the Chernobyl disaster exposed the serious shortcomings of the Soviet system and galvanized a significant section of Belarusians around the issues of environment, de-Stalinization, national revival and democratic change. The dissolution of the Soviet Union brought about a brief period of democracy from 1991 to 1994. However, since his election in 1994, Alexander Lukashenko established an authoritarian rule creating a political syst ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flag Of Belarus (1918, 1991-1995)
The national flag of Belarus is a red-and-green flag with a white-and-red ornament pattern placed at the hoist (staff) end. The current design was introduced in 2012 by the State Committee for Standardisation of the Republic of Belarus, and is adapted from a design approved in a May 1995 referendum. It is a modification of the 1951 flag used while the country was a republic of the Soviet Union. Changes made to the Soviet-era flag were the removal of communist symbols – the hammer and sickle and the red star – as well as the reversal of the colours in the ornament pattern. Since the 1995 referendum, several flags used by Belarusian government officials and agencies have been modelled on this national flag. Historically, the white-red-white flag was used by the Belarusian People's Republic in 1918 before Belarus became a Soviet Republic, then by the Belarusian national movement in West Belarus followed by widespread unofficial use during the Nazi occupation of Bela ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United Nations Human Rights Council
The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), CDH is a United Nations body whose mission is to promote and protect human rights around the world. The Council has 47 members elected for staggered three-year terms on a regional group basis. The headquarters of the Council are at the United Nations Office at Geneva in Switzerland. The Council investigates allegations of breaches of human rights in United Nations member states and addresses thematic human rights issues like freedom of association and assembly, freedom of expression, freedom of belief and religion, women's rights, LGBT rights, and the rights of racial and ethnic minorities. The Council was established by the United Nations General Assembly on 15 March 2006 to replace the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR, herein CHR). The Council works closely with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and engages the United Nations ''special procedures''. The Council has been strongl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charter 97
Charter 97 ( be, Хартыя'97; russian: Хартия'97) is a declaration calling for democracy in Belarus and a pro- human rights news site taking its inspiration from the declaration. The document – the title of which deliberately echoes the Czechoslovak human rights declaration Charter 77 20 years earlier – was created on the anniversary of a referendum held in 1996, and which, in the words of the organization of the same name, declares: "devotion to the principles of independence, freedom and democracy, respect to the human rights, solidarity with everybody, who stands for elimination of dictatorial regime and restoration of democracy in Belarus". Belarusian journalist Pavał Šaramiet acted as the group's spokesman at the declaration's public launch. Charter 97, as a citizens' human rights organisation based on the principles outlined in this document, is a non-partisan organisation which has organised protest rallies and has provided a springboard for other democr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Constitution Of Belarus
The Constitution of the Republic of Belarus ( be, Канстытуцыя Рэспублікі Беларусь, russian: Конституция Республики Беларусь) is the ultimate law of Belarus. The Constitution is composed of a preamble and nine sections divided into 146 articles. Adopted in 1994, three years after the country declared its independence from the Soviet Union, this formal document establishes the framework of the Belarusian state and government and enumerates the rights and freedoms of its citizens. However, the United Nations and various observers challenge that the rule of law is respected or that the judiciary is independent in Belarus, highlighting the consolidation of power by the current president. The constitution was drafted by the Supreme Soviet of Belarus, the former legislative body of the country and is heavily influenced by Western constitutions. The constitution has been amended thrice under controversial circumstances since t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1996 Belarusian Referendum
A seven-question referendum was held in Belarus on 24 November 1996. Four questions were put forward by President Alexander Lukashenko on changing the date of the country's independence day, amending the constitution, changing laws on the sale of land and the abolition of the death penalty. The Supreme Council put forward three questions on constitutional amendments by the Communist and Agrarian factions, local elections and the national finances. All of Lukashenko's proposals were approved, namely changing Belarus's national day, amending the constitution, and retaining the death penalty and a ban on land sales. Voter turnout was claimed to be 84.1%.Nohlen & Stöver, pp256–257 However, the referendum, like its 1995 predecessor, was condemned by international organizations including the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, as falling far short of democratic standards, while others described it as a further consolidation of Lukashenko's dictatorship. Background In the summer of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parliament Of Belarus
The National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus ( be, Нацыянальны сход Рэспублікі Беларусь, Nacyjanalny schod Respubliki Bielaruś; russian: Национальное собрание Республики Беларусь, Natsionalnoye sobran'ye Respubliki Belarus') is the bicameral parliament of Belarus. The two chambers of the National Assembly are: *the Council of the Republic – the upper house *the House of Representatives – the lower house. While each chamber has specific duties, both chambers have the ability to veto the decrees of local administrations that deviate from the Constitution of Belarus. The chambers of the National Assembly are convened to two regular sessions every year: the first session opens 2 October and its duration cannot be more than 80 days; the second session opens 2 April and does not last more than 90 days. The House of Representatives and the Council of the Republic may be convened to an extraordinary ses ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1994 Belarusian Presidential Election
Presidential elections were held in Belarus on 23 June 1994, with a second round on 10 July. They were the first national elections held in Belarus since the country seceded from the Soviet Union three years earlier. The result was a victory for Alexander Lukashenko, who received 80.6% of the vote in the second round. Voter turnout was 79.0% in the first round and 70.6% in the second. In 1995, a year after taking office, Lukashenko won a referendum that gave him the power to dissolve the legislature. In 1996, he won another referendum that dramatically increased his power, and also extended his original five-year term to 2001. As a result, the 1994 presidential election is considered, to date, the only free election held in Belarus since it broke away from the Soviet Union. BBC News, 10 September ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Supreme Soviet Of The Byelorussian SSR
The Supreme Soviet of the Byelorussian SSR (Belarusian: Вярхоўны Савет Беларускай ССР, ''Viarchoŭny Saviet Bielaruskaj SSR''; Russian: Верховный Совет Белорусской ССР tr. ''Verkhovnyy Sovet Belorusskoy SSR'') was the supreme soviet (main legislative institution) of the Byelorussian SSR from 1938 to 1991. The Supreme Soviet of the Byelorussian SSR was preceded by the All-Byelorussian Central Executive Committee (1920-1938) and the All-Byelorussian Congress of Soviets (1919-1937). The Supreme Soviet of the Byelorussian SSR was briefly disbanded in 1941 due to the Great Patriotic War and was re-established in 1947. The Supreme Soviet of the Byelorussian SSR was briefly succeeded by the Supreme Soviet of Belarus from 1991 to 1996. The Supreme Soviet of Belarus was succeeded by the National Assembly of Belarus in 1996. Until Gorbachev's democratization program, the Supreme Soviet of the Byelorussian SSR was a rubber stamp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Glasnost
''Glasnost'' (; russian: link=no, гласность, ) has several general and specific meanings – a policy of maximum openness in the activities of state institutions and freedom of information, the inadmissibility of hushing up problems, and so on. It has been used in Russian to mean "openness and transparency" since at least the end of the 18th century. In the Russian Empire of the late-19th century, the term was particularly associated with reforms of the judicial system. Among these were reforms permitting attendance of the press and the public at trials whose verdicts were now to be read aloud. Vladimir Lenin repeatedly emphasized the importance of glasnost as the most important feature of democracy. In the mid-1980s, it was popularised by Mikhail Gorbachev as a political slogan for increased government transparency in the Soviet Union. Historical usage Human rights activist Lyudmila Alexeyeva argues that the word ''glasnost'' has been in the Russian language for s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Belarusian Popular Front
The Belarusian Popular Front "Revival" (BPF, be, Беларускі Народны Фронт "Адраджэньне", БНФ; ''Biełaruski Narodny Front "Adradžeńnie"'', ''BNF'') was a social and political movement in Belarus in the late 1980s and 1990s which led Belarus to its independence from the Soviet Union. It was similar to the Popular Fronts of Latvia and Estonia, and the Sąjūdis movement in Lithuania. Creation The Belarusian Popular Front was established in 1989, following the examples of the Popular Fronts in the Baltic states. Its founding conference had to be organized in Vilnius because of pressure from the authorities of the Byelorussian SSR. Initially, the Popular Front united numerous minor organizations promoting the Belarusian language and history. However, soon the movement began voicing political demands, supporting the Perestroika and democratization in the Soviet Union which would enable a Belarusian national revival. The Popular Front was the firs ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Martyrology
A martyrology is a catalogue or list of martyrs and other saints and beati arranged in the calendar order of their anniversaries or feasts. Local martyrologies record exclusively the custom of a particular Church. Local lists were enriched by names borrowed from neighbouring churches. Consolidation occurred, by the combination of several local martyrologies, with or without borrowings from literary sources. This is the now accepted meaning in the Latin Church. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, the nearest equivalent to the martyrology is the Synaxarion and the longer Menologion. As regards form, one should distinguish between simple martyrologies that simply enumerate names, and historical martyrologies, which also include stories or biographical details; for the latter, the term ''passionary'' is also used. Oldest examples The martyrology, or ''ferial'', of the Roman Church in the middle of the fourth century still exists. It comprises two distinct lists, the '' Depositio ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kurapaty
Kurapaty ( be, Курапаты, ) is a wooded area on the outskirts of Minsk, Belarus, in which a vast number of people were executed between 1937 and 1941 during the Great Purge by the Soviet secret police, the NKVD. The exact count of victims is uncertain, as NKVD archives are classified in Belarus.Памяць і забыцьцё Курапатаў // RFE/RL, 28.10.2009 According to various sources the number of people who perished in Kurapaty is estimated to be at least 30,000 (according to the Attorney General of BSSR Tarnaŭski), up to 100,000 people (according to “Belarus” reference book),Даведнік «Беларусь». — Мн.: ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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