Belarusian civil society has largely welcomed international responses sought to ensure accountability for human rights violations and political repressions in Belarus.
The office of Svetlana Tikhanovskaya - a perceived winner of Belarusian presidential election, forced into exile soon after the election’s disputed results were announced, - has been especially active in advocating for sanctions. In the official statements, the office has consistently called for the imposition of sanctions, widening their scope and reach. In the interview to the New Yorker, the national leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya commented on the sanctions strategy in the following way:
“There should be a very broad list of people who face individual sanctions. For now, sanctions apply only to highly placed officials who’ve faced sanctions before and have parked their money elsewhere and are generally prepared. But people lower down—the principals of the schools where election results were falsified, the Interior Ministry troops whom we’ve been able to identify, heads of jails, hospital directors who fire doctors for speaking out—they’ve never faced sanctions before.
…we also need the E.U. to impose economic sanctions against major industrial enterprises, such as [the oil giant] Naftan, and [the fertilizer manufacturers] Belaruskali and Grodno Azot. We are asking for loans to these companies, purchases from them, and supplies of raw materials and spare parts to be temporarily suspended.
…They fear sanctions. Sanctions hurt. So we need to use them.”
Another alternative political force - the National Anti-Crisis Management organization, led by former Belarusian diplomat Pavel Latushko, - is less vocal in calling for sanctions in the public realm, but active in commenting on the sanctions’ rationale and results. For instance, the head of the organization Pavel Latushko stated that “the international community must react to mass human rights violations in Europe” and “it is only the illegitimate [Belarusian] leadership, unwilling to follow both international and national legal principles, that is to blame for the adverse reaction that ensued.”
Belarusian human rights defenders have consistently condemned violence and human rights violations pre-, mid-, and post-election in their joint statements. Since civil society organizations address their statements primarily to Belarusian de facto authorities and not international actors, such statements do not typically refer to sanctions or other international responses directly. However, international non-profit actors have actively pushed for sanctions, including Reporters Without Borders.
Civil society organizations are actively involved in monitoring international responses to the situation in Belarus - for instance, Belarusian online portal defenders.by has a special section dedicated to expressions of international solidarity with lawyers and human rights defenders repressed by the regime. Overall, the goals of grassroots civil society actors and international players often coincide. Both aim to end human rights abuses and are willing to employ international mechanisms that will create meaningful change.