Joint Statement on the Upcoming Constitutional Referendum In Belarus
As delivered by Ambassador Jocelyn Kinnear, Permanent Representative of Canada to the OSCE
at the Permanent Council
Vienna, 20 January 2022
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 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.
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