Lithuania should protect Belarusian conscientious objectors and deserters, grant adequate legal protection and prevent their deportation!
The undersigned organizations are genuinely concerned by the threat of the Lithuanian authorities to immediately deport the Belarusian conscientious objector Vitali Dvarashyn and deserter Mikita Sviryd to Belarus where they are at risk of persecution, imprisonment, and death penalty. We demand immediate action from the Lithuanian authorities to prevent the deportation of conscientious objectors back to Belarus and grant asylum in Lithuania where they have been seeking protection.
Belarusian conscientious objector Vitali Dvarashyn, as other Belarusian asylum seekers in Lithuania, has been declared “a threat to national security in Lithuania” in 2023 after seven years of residence permit in the country. He consequently suffered solitary confinement in a refugee camp and has been denied asylum on May 29, 2024 with the claim that he would not be in danger in Belarus. On June 13, 2024 he escaped his arrest and the risk of immediate deportation and went into hiding out of terror and fear.
Belarusian deserter Mikita Sviryd has been denied asylum on November 20, 2023 and although he appealed, as Vitali did, he was not allowed to present in a hearing his case which is of serious concern because of the reintroduction of the death penalty in Belarus. He is thus desperately looking for ways to protect his life.
We urge the Lithuanian Authorities to prevent the deportation of Vitali Davarshyn and Mikita Svyrid -and any other deserter, draft evader and refuser- to Belarus by all means and to provide adequate protection to them.
As reported by the UN Special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Belarus, Ms. Anais Marin, at the last UN Human Rights Council, the situation of human rights in Belarus is very alarming and thus is not a safe country for conscientious objectors, deserters, and war resisters. The UN Special rapporteur has also highlighted that “the Government [of Belarus] continues to actively support the military aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine”.
We are alarmed that such information is not taken in account by the Lithuanian authorities which uphold the conviction that it is safe for deserters and conscientious objectors to return to Belarus. “This is not true”, explains Olga Karatch from the International Centre for Civil Initiatives Our House (Nash Dom), “Vitali Dvarashyn and Mikita Svyrid face persecution and imprisonment if they are forcibly returned to Belarus. For deserters like Mikita, even the death penalty is legal. This has to be prevented by all means.” Additionally, we are deeply concerned to read that the Lithuanian Migration Department does not consider relevant the reporting from the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on the situation of human rights in Belarus.
The criminal liability for evading military conscription, the continuous violations of the human right to conscientious objection to military service, and the reintroduction of the death penalty for deserters, are strong evidence that Belarus is not a safe country for conscientious objectors. The undersigned organizations, therefore, call on Lithuania to immediately prevent the deportation of Belarusian deserters and conscientious objectors and to provide adequate protection to them.
As highlighted in the UNHCR Guidelines on International protection, conscientious objectors to military service are eligible for refugee status if they are at risk of persecution in their own country and this fully apply to Belarusian conscientious objectors.
The right to conscientious objection to military service is a human right inherent to the human right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion (also present in the European Union Charter of Fundamental Rights, Article 10 – Freedom of thought, conscience, and religion). It is also worth reminding that in Belarus there is a high risk of recruitment and mobilization in support of the war of aggression of the Russian Federation in Ukraine which constitutes a violation of international law.
The undersigned organizations urge Lithuania and the other members of the European Union to provide full protection to conscientious objectors and deserters who flee from Belarus where they are persecuted and their right to conscientious objection is not recognized, and call on the European institutions to ensure the full implementation of the right to conscientious objection to military service in all its member states.
For additional details on the individual cases mentioned:
Vitali Dvarashyn: https://news.house/de/62206
Mikita Sviryd: https://news.house/62216
For more information and interviews please contact:
Olga Karach, head of the International Center for Civil Initiatives Our House: olga.karatch[at]gmail.com
Connection e.V. International Support of Conscientious Objectors and Deserters: office[at]Connection-eV.org