Speech

Upcoming Constitutional Referendum In Belarus: joint statement

Delivered by Canadian Ambassador Jocelyn Kinnear on behalf of 37 OSCE states.

• From: Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office and Ambassador Jocelyn Kinnear, Head of the Canadian delegation to the OSCE
• Published: 21 January 2022

This was published under the 2019 to 2022 Johnson Conservative government

• Delivered on: 20 January 2022 (Transcript of the speech, exactly as it was delivered)

Mr. Chairperson,

I am delivering this statement on behalf of Albania, Iceland, Montenegro, Norway, North Macedonia, Switzerland, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, the United States, the European Union member states, and my own country Canada.

The delegation of Belarus has informed this Council that there will be a planned constitutional referendum in Belarus in the second half of February. In this regard, our delegations would like to ask the delegation of Belarus the following two questions:

1) As many of our states have benefitted from the legal support the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) can provide, is Belarus intending to request ODIHR’s legal assessment of the proposed changes to the Belarusian constitution?

2) Is Belarus intending to invite ODIHR to monitor the referendum, in a way that allows for proper observation in line with ODIHR’s methodology?

Thank you.

Published 21 January 2022