Rights Experts Concerned Over Gender-Based Violence in Belarus Prisons

Reports suggest that staff members within detention facilities, the Department of Correctional Services, and the Public Prosecutor’s Office may have been complicit in covering up these abuses.


Devdiscourse News Desk | Geneva | Updated: 30-01-2025 15:41 IST | Created: 30-01-2025 15:41 IST
Rights Experts Concerned Over Gender-Based Violence in Belarus Prisons
“Some of these abuses stem from significant shortcomings in Belarusian legislation, while others clearly violate both international human rights law and the country's own laws,” the experts explained. Image Credit: Flickr
  • Country:
  • Belarus

Independent human rights experts have raised serious concerns about the lack of effective investigations into gender-based violence and ill-treatment of women in pre-trial detention centres and correctional colonies across Belarus. These allegations point to widespread abuse, with reports highlighting inhumane conditions and systemic failures to protect women detainees.

“The conditions of detention for women prisoners in Belarus are appalling,” the experts stated. “We call on the authorities to immediately launch effective and transparent investigations into all reported cases of abuse and ensure the protection of witnesses from retaliation.”

Reports suggest that staff members within detention facilities, the Department of Correctional Services, and the Public Prosecutor’s Office may have been complicit in covering up these abuses.

Key allegations include overcrowding in pre-trial detention centres, poor hygiene, denial of medical care, lack of adequate clothing, and degrading practices such as strip searches conducted by both male and female staff. Furthermore, detainees are denied basic privacy during bathroom use. Women prisoners have been subjected to arbitrary punishments, including solitary confinement, and some are detained incommunicado, with no contact with their families or children. Violence among prisoners is also reported to be widespread at correctional colony no. 4, with prison authorities either tolerating or encouraging such behavior.

Shameful and Degrading Punishments

One of the most disturbing practices is the use of a ‘shame cage’ in the yard of correctional colony no. 4, where women are forced to stand for hours in harsh weather conditions as punishment for disciplinary offenses. The experts condemned this practice as “inhuman and degrading.”

“Some of these abuses stem from significant shortcomings in Belarusian legislation, while others clearly violate both international human rights law and the country's own laws,” the experts explained.

Longstanding Human Rights Violations

The situation is not new. Gender-based violence and ill-treatment of women detainees have been longstanding issues in Belarus, the experts noted. They pointed to the 2024 report by the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Belarus, which highlighted that the Belarusian government has consistently failed to implement recommendations by UN human rights bodies over the past decade to address the ill-treatment of women detainees.

In light of these continued abuses, the experts are urging immediate reforms in detention practices and legal frameworks to ensure the protection and dignity of all prisoners, particularly women, and to hold authorities accountable for any complicity in the abuse.

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