The Assembly,

1. Recalling its decision of 30 March 2001 to continue the suspension of its relationship with the Parliament of Belarus, as well as the deliberations during the Assembly Seminar on Belarus that took place in Vilnius 23-24 September 2005, and considering that the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has suspended relations with the national parliament;

2. Stressing that Belarus is a central part of Europe and a direct neighbour of NATO and the European Union, and that we all have a stake in reintegrating Belarus and its people into the family of European democracies, and deeply regretting that the policies of Mr. Lukashenko's government and the way in which the parliamentary election as well as the controversial referendum on 17 October 2004, allowing the President more than two terms in office were conducted have made this objective substantially more difficult to achieve;

3. Welcoming the release of Prof. Bandashevsky on parole in August 2005 but strongly condemning all the tactics of intimidation, harassment and repression employed against opposition candidates in the election, the non-state-owned press, representatives of independent trade unions, ethnic minorities and other organisations of Belarusian civil society as well as independent national observers;

4. Denouncing, in particular, the difficulties experienced by the opposition in obtaining access to state-controlled media - including electronic facilities - and the presidential decrees promulgated in order to curtail the basic freedoms of expression and association;

5. Convincedthat the provision of alternative information for the population of Belarus through external broadcasting has become a top priority, and recommending thatsuch broadcasting might be done from the neighbouring countries, with involvement of the independent Belarusian journalists, and that the information should be broadcast in both the Belarusian and Russian languages;

6. Outraged by credible reports about the disappearance and murder of political opponents in 1999 and 2000 inspired by members of the government as stated in Resolution 1371 (2004) of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe based on an investigation by Mr Pourgourides MP, Cyprus;

7. CALLS UPON the President of Belarus, Mr Lukashenko, and his government:

to reverse the current deteriorating trend in respect of democracy and human rights, to ensure that the presidential elections in 2006 are conducted in a free and fair manner in accordance with international standards, and to abide by its commitments in the OSCE and the UN;
to restore democracy and the rule of law in Belarus and to guarantee the protection of human rights, the independence of the judiciary, freedom of the press and free enterprise;
to free all remaining political prisoners immediately and to set up promptly impartial in-depth inquiries into the fate of persons who have disappeared and to bring those responsible for the abductions and killings to justice;
to end the “militarisation” of domestic politics, i.e. to check the increase in militia forces;
to ensure that all eligible candidates are allowed to register for next year’s presidential election, to campaign freely, to enjoy equal access to state-controlled media, and to allow their representatives to participate fully in election commissions;
to issue an early invitation to a full OSCE/ODIHR election observation mission, to which EU Member States are willing to contribute, in accordance with the 1990 Copenhagen document, and to allow it to operate unimpeded;
to extend the powers of parliament so that it becomes a democratic institution capable of exercising legislative authority and political control over the government in accordance with the principle of the separation of powers;

8. URGES member governments and parliaments of the North Atlantic Alliance:

to seize every possible opportunity to make clear to the Belarusian authorities that they are expected to honour all their OSCE commitments in the areas of human rights and democracy;
to increase significantly support for independent initiatives directed towards strengthening the development of civil society and the NGO sector;
to encourage bilateral contacts between NGOs in order to help overcome the country’s isolation;
to intensify people-to-people contacts by strengthening good neighbourly relations (e.g. through student and scientific exchanges, scholarships, youth travel, contacts between small- and medium-sized enterprises, training local authority officials, etc.);
to help disseminate unbiased reporting about events at home and abroad through media inside and outside Belarus in order to overcome the government’s monopoly on information;
to co-ordinate EU and US programmes for assisting the development of civil society in Belarus effectively;
to seek active backing from the Russian government and parliament in support of approaches aimed at requiring the Belarusian authorities to bring their legislation and practices into compliance with OSCE standards;
to emphasize to the government of Belarus that the further development of relations between NATO member and partner countries with Belarus will depend on the progress made towards democratisation in the country;

9. REITERATES, at the same time, its willingness to have closer and better relations with Belarus and its parliament once the Belarusian authorities clearly demonstrate their willingness to respect democratic values and the rule of law.