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OSCE co-operation with Belarus election observers is legitimate and necessary
MINSK 17 April 2001
MINSK, 17 April 2001 - The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), Advisory and Monitoring Group in Belarus, rejects accusations made on 12 April 2001 by Leonid Yerin, Chief of the Belarusian Committee for State Security, saying that international assistance for training domestic election observers has to be seen as recruitment of spies.
Ambassador Hans-Georg Wieck, Head of the OSCE Advisory and Monitoring Group in Belarus, stated that OSCE support is rendered for courses on the electoral law and implementing regulations, and on the exercise of the rights and obligations of electoral observers.
This is standard OSCE practice and was undertaken without any incidents or objections by the authorities on the occasion of the local and parliamentary elections in 1999 and 2000. The programs were, and continue to be, transparent and have nothing to do with espionage or political militancy.
Domestic election observers perform an important function within the civil society. They monitor the compliance of the authorities and of the Electoral Commissions with the laws when implementing the election. By definition, this function of countrywide election observation cannot be undertaken by governmental structures, but has to come from other than official institutions. OSCE co-operation with domestic observers is legitimate and necessary.
The OSCE Advisory and Monitoring Group observes with concern the public campaign - based on fabricated and therefore false associations of the mission with militancy, terrorism and other unlawful activities - aimed at undermining the integrity of the OSCE Advisory and Monitoring Group. The OSCE Advisory and Monitoring Group has offered at all times advice to the governmental structures and the Central Commission for Elections and National Referenda with the objective of increasing understanding of the roles of Governmental bodies, electoral commissions and observers.
The OSCE Advisory and Monitoring Group remains committed to the tasks it has been charged with. It is committed to co-operating with both governmental institutions and non-governmental organizations in order to contribute to the development of democratic institutions, particularly at the grassroots level.
For further information, please contact Andrew Carpenter, Political Counsellor, OSCE Advisory and Monitoring Group in Belarus, Prospekt Gasety Pravda 11, 220116 Minsk, Belarus, tel.: + 375 17 272 34 97; fax: + 375 17 272 34 98; e-mail: osceamg@osce.org.by
Ambassador Hans-Georg Wieck, Head of the OSCE Advisory and Monitoring Group in Belarus, stated that OSCE support is rendered for courses on the electoral law and implementing regulations, and on the exercise of the rights and obligations of electoral observers.
This is standard OSCE practice and was undertaken without any incidents or objections by the authorities on the occasion of the local and parliamentary elections in 1999 and 2000. The programs were, and continue to be, transparent and have nothing to do with espionage or political militancy.
Domestic election observers perform an important function within the civil society. They monitor the compliance of the authorities and of the Electoral Commissions with the laws when implementing the election. By definition, this function of countrywide election observation cannot be undertaken by governmental structures, but has to come from other than official institutions. OSCE co-operation with domestic observers is legitimate and necessary.
The OSCE Advisory and Monitoring Group observes with concern the public campaign - based on fabricated and therefore false associations of the mission with militancy, terrorism and other unlawful activities - aimed at undermining the integrity of the OSCE Advisory and Monitoring Group. The OSCE Advisory and Monitoring Group has offered at all times advice to the governmental structures and the Central Commission for Elections and National Referenda with the objective of increasing understanding of the roles of Governmental bodies, electoral commissions and observers.
The OSCE Advisory and Monitoring Group remains committed to the tasks it has been charged with. It is committed to co-operating with both governmental institutions and non-governmental organizations in order to contribute to the development of democratic institutions, particularly at the grassroots level.
For further information, please contact Andrew Carpenter, Political Counsellor, OSCE Advisory and Monitoring Group in Belarus, Prospekt Gasety Pravda 11, 220116 Minsk, Belarus, tel.: + 375 17 272 34 97; fax: + 375 17 272 34 98; e-mail: osceamg@osce.org.by