Sec. 3. Statement of policy
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Section 3 of the Belarus Democracy Act of 2004 ( Public Law 108–347 ; 22 U.S.C. 5811 note) is amended to read as follows: It is the policy of the United States— to condemn— the conduct of the August 9, 2020, presidential election in Belarus, which was neither free nor fair; the Belarusian authorities’ unrelenting crackdown on, arbitrary arrests of, and violence against opposition candidates, democratic opposition, peaceful protestors, human rights activists, employees from state-owned enterprises participating in strikes, independent election observers, and independent journalists and bloggers; and the unjustified detention and forced or attempted deportation of members of the Coordination Council and United Transitional Cabinet in Belarus; to condemn the illegitimate Belarusian authorities’ allowance of Russian nuclear weapons to be deployed to Belarusian territory, their continued political and material support for Russia’s unprovoked war of aggression in Ukraine, and their continued participation in abducting and deporting Ukrainian children from territory occupied by the Russian Federation to the territory of Belarus; to condemn the presence of Russian forces on Belarusian territory and demand the cessation of the use of Belarusian territory by Russian forces as a staging ground for Russia’s illegal, full-scale war of aggression against Ukraine or for the prevention of a peaceful democratic transition in Belarus; to demand accountability for the illegal Lukashenka regime’s complicity in the crime of aggression against Ukraine through international justice mechanisms; to condemn the weaponization of migrants wherein the Government of Belarus, led illegally by Alyaksandr Lukashenka, has sent thousands of migrants to the borders of Poland and Lithuania in an attempt to destabilize the border region; to continue demanding the immediate release without preconditions of all political prisoners in Belarus and those arrested for peacefully protesting, including all those individuals detained in connection with the August 9, 2020, fraudulent presidential election; to stand in solidarity with the people of Belarus, including human rights defenders, bloggers, and journalists, who are exercising their right to freedom of assembly, freedom of expression, and rule of law and to continue supporting the aspirations of the people of Belarus for democracy, human rights, and the rule of law; to continue actively supporting the aspirations of the people of the Republic of Belarus to preserve the independence and sovereignty of their country; to continue refusing to recognize Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s illegitimate regime and to continue supporting calls for Belarusian presidential and parliamentary elections to be conducted in a manner that is free and fair according to Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
(OSCE)standards and under the supervision of OSCE observers and independent domestic observers, including in the 2025 presidential elections; to continue calling for the Government of Belarus to fulfill its freely undertaken obligations as an OSCE participating state and as a signatory of the Charter of the United Nations; to recognize the Coordination Council and the United Transitional Cabinet as legitimate institutions to participate in a dialogue on a peaceful transition of power, and to support these institutions prior to and during such a transition should it take place; to condemn the deprivation of consular services to Belarusian citizens living abroad, including representatives of the Belarusian democratic opposition, and urge the United States to raise this to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the International Organization for Migration, the Council of Europe, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe; to encourage the United States Government to continue working closely with the European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada, and other countries and international organizations to continue to impose targeted sanctions against officials in Belarus who are responsible for— undermining democratic processes in Belarus; participating in gross violations of internationally recognized human rights related to political repression in Belarus and undermining rule of law for the people of Belarus; or enabling or facilitating Russia’s war in Ukraine; to call on the Government of Belarus to uphold its human rights obligations, including those rights enumerated in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; to encourage the United States to expeditiously appoint a U.S. Special Envoy for Belarus to fill the role vacated in June 2022; and to support the use of the Strategic Dialogue between the United States Government as a means of furthering ties between the United States Government and the representatives of the democratic opposition of Belarus in pursuit of objectives, including— accountability for the Lukashenka regime’s gross violations of internationally recognized human rights and domestic repressions; increasing partnerships with the Belarusian people by supporting investments such as the United States Agency for International Development’s dedicated Belarus Country Representative Office in Vilnius, Lithuania; and initiating cultural programming dedicated to protecting Belarusian language, culture, and national identity. .
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- Pub. L. 108-347
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