GENEVA – Independent human rights experts* today denounced the recent deportation to Lithuania of Belarussian prisoners released from jail, including opposition politicians, media workers and trade unionists.
Many had their Belarusian identity documents confiscated and some were included on the official list of individuals involved in extremist activities.
“The expulsion of the country’s own citizens and the arbitrary confiscation of their identity documents violate several human rights, including the right to a nationality, freedom of movement, and the right not to be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with one’s privacy,” the experts said.
On 11 September 2025, under an agreement reached with the United States of America, Belarus released from prison and brought to the border with Lithuania 52 individuals, most of whom are Belarusian citizens. One of them, opposition politician Mikalai Statkevich, refused to cross the border and subsequently disappeared, while the others found themselves forced into exile. According to reports received, 14 expelled Belarusians had their identity documents confiscated, one held an expired passport and another an invalid passport with torn pages.
“This is yet another measure taken by Belarusian authorities which leads to a risk of statelessness,” the experts said, recalling the 2022 and 2023 constitutional and legislative amendments that permitted the revocation of citizenship following in absentia convictions without a fair trial for “extremism” or for causing “severe damage to the interests of Belarus”.
They also referred to the 2023 Presidential Decree on consular services, which ended the issuance and renewal of identity documents by Belarusian consular services. The experts added that all these measures run counter to the objectives of the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, two treaties which Belarus agreed to ratify during its Universal Periodic Review in 2020.
“We call on the authorities to immediately cease adopting and to revoke all the legislative, regulatory and law-enforcement measures that create a risk of statelessness. This includes the urgent need to amend domestic counter-terrorism and anti-extremism legislation, which is incompatible with international human rights law,” the experts said.
*The experts:
- Nils Muižnieks, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Belarus;
- Irene Khan, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression;
- Gina Romero, Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association;
- Ben Saul, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism
Special Rapporteurs/Independent Experts/Working Groups are independent human rights experts appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council. Together, these experts are referred to as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. While the UN Human Rights office acts as the secretariat for Special Procedures, the experts serve in their individual capacity and are independent from any government or organization, including OHCHR and the UN. Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the UN or OHCHR.
Country-specific observations and recommendations by the UN human rights mechanisms, including the special procedures, the treaty bodies and the Universal Periodic Review, can be found on the Universal Human Rights Index https://uhri.ohchr.org/en/
UN Human Rights, country page – Belarus
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Photo credit LIBERECO.