Photo: MotolkoHelp
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe voted for a resolution calling on EU countries to remove administrative barriers for political emigrants from Belarus. Sota drew attention to this. In the resolution, the EU countries are invited to:
- issue humanitarian visas in all remaining embassies in Minsk;
- to provide Belarusians in exile with the opportunity to move around the EU;
- enable Belarusians in exile to obtain passports and financial services in the EU;
- support Belarusian civil society.
Results of voting in PACE:
- For – 87
- Against – 0
- Abstained – 3
The document was proposed by the author of the report “Solving specific problems faced by Belarusians in exile”, MP from Luxembourg Paul Galle. The resolution states that "the Belarusian people are not like the Lukashenka regime" and should not be treated in a discriminatory manner due to the regime's participation in the war against Ukraine.
The deputies also said that they were “impressed with the work and initiatives of the office of Svetlana Tikhanovskaya and the United Transitional Cabinet of Belarus, which are aimed at providing their compatriots with services that the regime deliberately denies them.” According to parliamentarians, most of the expelled Belarusians “have only one desire” – to return to democratic Belarus, but until then, the countries temporarily hosting them should “do everything possible so that people can stay legally and be received with decent conditions” .
