The Human Rights Center Viasna’s office was raided while presenting a report on 19 December and following events just hours before the meeting with Pillay.
NHC had the opportunity to have a meeting with Navi Pillay, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights who visited Oslo and the Norwegian Center of Human Rights. NHC urged the Commissioner to visit Belarus as soon as possible. Considering the important role of the UN in Belarus, which is the only European country not being a member of the Council of Europe and the urgency of the human rights situation in the country, NHC also raised the idea of a UN Special Rapporteur for Belarus. The police entering Viasnas offices claimed they were searching for bombs. Not surprisingly they did not find any explosives in the office of the human rights defenders, but they still brought several to the police station, including foreign members of the International Observation Mission who later were deported from Belarus. Read the report about the 19 December events here.
NHC also highlighted the horrifying conditions in Turkmenistans closed institutions and our work for a reform of the National Institution for human rights in Norway with the Commissioner.