BELARUS IS CALLING!

by | Dec 19, 2020 | All, featured | 0 comments

This three-part series was launched in the autumn of 2020 to provide training and support to improve the skills of civic society activists in investigating and prosecuting torture. The Series provides human rights defenders in Belarus with the tools to call for personal liability for those involved in torture, inhuman, and degrading treatment of peaceful protesters in Belarus. The webinars cover essential topics, including legal mechanisms to impose individual sanctions on human rights abusers, universal jurisdiction to litigate extraterritorial torture cases, and finally, how to use open-source information to investigate human rights abuses and to document them. All sessions were offered in English with Belarusian translation.

These sessions are password protected. To gain access to these webinars, please contact Halya Senyk at Halyna.Senyk@CEELI.eu

SESSION ONE: DOCUMENTING TORTURE

In the inaugural session, CEELI speaks with Melissa Hooper from Human Rights First about United States instruments for individual sanctions, focusing on the global Magnitsky Act, Belarus Democracy Act, and Executive Order. The special focus is on collecting evidence and preparing the submissions. The webinar also includes the template for Submission.

SESSION TWO: UNIVERSAL JURISDICTION FOR TORTURE CASES

The second webinar in this three- part series discusses universal jurisdiction application with specific examples in Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. This session focuses on the challenges and tensions in applying universal jurisdiction and recommendations on choosing a jurisdiction and how to frame a complaint. In this meeting, CEELI speaks with Simon Papuashvili from the International Partnership for Human Rights.

SESSION THREE: COLLECTING, VERIFYING, AND ORGANIZING OPEN-SOURCE EVIDENCE ON ONGOING HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES

The third and final webinar provides an in-detail overview of tools to work with open-source information as a proof of human rights violation. This webinar is prepared and delivered by Bellingcat. ​​

All sessions are password protected. To gain access to these webinars, and training materials, please contact Halya Senyk at Halyna.Senyk@CEELI.eu