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Vilnius, City Park Hotel

Distinguished participants of the conference,

Dear friends,

First of all, I would like to thank the organizers of this conference -- Lithuanian Youth Council, Eastern European Studies Centre, Lithuanian Liberal Youth, and European Law Students Association -- for inviting me to this event.  On behalf of the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs may I welcome our guests and extend our best greetings to all the participants of the conference.

We are here today to discuss the human rights situation in Belarus.  It is good that this topic is still on the agenda.  The universal value of human rights cannot be overwhelmed by any other -- either so-called ‘pragmatic’ or so-called ‘geopolitical’ --interests.

This forum will seek to list human rights violations in Belarus and evaluate them.  To meticulously register these cases and make them public is critical.  Not so much because we need to provoke anyone, but in the first place because we seek to alleviate the outcomes and, hopefully, to eliminate the causes of the registered human rights violations.  

In our case, having eyewitnesses from Belarus is a great asset. With your help we can expand what is known from the reports of international human rights organizations.  In the future, perhaps, we should also try to invite people from the other side of the barricades.  The risk of falling into the trap of emotions is, understandably, high when listening to the rousing victim accounts.  And too much action, just like too little of it, may in the end challenge our credibility.

One such example is often brought to our attention -- namely, that the EU and its partners’ policies in Belarus have failed to produce the expected results. This is not necessarily true. But that something went wrong is also obvious.  We need to analyze this experience and move forward. The broader and deeper understanding of every particular case will be extremely helpful.

For the sake of better understanding why human rights is still a problematic issue in our neighborhood, I would like to draw your attention to a few additional arguments:

First, I read in one paper on my way here that one single person is responsible for the bad human rights situation in Belarus. I am not competent to judge whether it is right or wrong.  People, who directly suffered from the authorities, as well as their relatives, can do that much better than me. 

But it is equally true that human rights cannot be exercised separately from a broader social and political context. It all starts from simple things. For example, private property. Once you have property, you wish to protect it and operate it as you want. Private property cannot exist effectively without the rule of law.  We often claim there is no rule of law in Belarus. May I note that in Belarus property is also predominately state-owned.

My another guess is that human rights somehow relate to the amount of personal property. Who will go to protest when the stakes are close to zero?  In Belarus, the class of ownership is still limited in size and quantity. And the government policies seem not to contribute to the increase in the middle class membership.

To cut this long story short, it is possible that the lack of privatization and economic reform contributes to the current human rights situation in Belarus. And perhaps we can hardly expect the human rights situation to improve unless the Belarusian economy is liberalized, transformed and integrated with the other -- first of all European -- markets.

The dilemma resulting from this approach is by no means simpler: Should we support economic cooperation with a country run by people like President Lukashenka? Especially when this particular country is under growing pressure from another so-called ‘democracy’ of this kind?

At some stages, the EU chose to disengage.  For example, this summer the EU suspended its Generalized System of Preferences with Belarus because of ongoing harassment of the local trade unions. In the decision making process Lithuania turned out to be the only EU Member State to openly question the efficacy of this step.

But at the same time, trade relations of Belarus with individual EU Member States are expanding. Only Lithuanian exports to Belarus increased almost by 40 percent last year. Belarus has also become an important subject of European energy security debate.

It is still unclear how the EU relations with Belarus will develop in the near future. The gap between what the EU expects and what the Belarusian authorities can offer is too wide. But to close this gap is not impossible. Perhaps, the idea of ‘critical engagement’ has never described the actual needs of both Belarus and the EU more precisely as it does now.

Belarus needs foreign investments; investors need transparent rules and predictability. Belarus needs to diversify; foreign investments will create jobs and stimulate private sector. And the energy security challenges bring our nations even more closely, as to cope with them we can in cooperation with each other. The use of energy instruments for political purposes is unacceptable in principle, no matter against whom they are used -- Ukraine, Belarus or Lithuania.

If we find consensus among the EU Member States that these areas are important not only for economy but also for human rights, perhaps we will start exploring them more closely.  Naturally, our claims to stop political persecutions and promote civil rights in Belarus will not fade away. The living memory of those beaten, imprisoned and disappeared still reminds us, and will remind in the future, that no human life and human suffering is less valuable than short-term economic and political benefits.

May I ask the participants of this conference to take these arguments onboard when discussing and drafting the text of the final declaration.

I wish you all the best of success.

Thank you.