| Civil Initiative We Remember is an independent public organization which affiliates family members of victims of political kidnappings occurred in Belarus in 1999-2000.
We Remember was founded in 2002. Its mission is disseminating truthful information about politically motivated disappearances of Belarusian citizens and informing the world community about the situation in the country.
Founders of We Remember are Ms. Irina Krasovskaya, wife of entrepreneur and public activist Anatoly Krasovsky who was abducted on September 16, 1999, and Ms. Svetlana Zavadskaya, wife of journalist Dmitry Zavadsky abducted on July 7, 2000.
Since Civil Initiative We Remember was created and despite an unremitting pressure from Belarusian authorities Irina Krasovskaya and Svetlana Zavadskaya have made more than 200 working trips which helped to bring the issue of enforced disappearances in Belarus to the attention of public opinion of a number of democratic countries. We Remember succeeded in bringing the issue of disappearances to a high international level. For the period of the Civil Initiative's activity three UN resolutions were adopted as well as a number of official PACE documents concerning the disappearances in Belarus.
Activities of Civil Initiative We Remember have contributed to creation of the Commission on Enforced Disappearances in Belarus of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. The outcome of the activities of the Commission was the report of its chairman Mr. Pourgourides and the resolution of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe that banned Belarusian high ranking officials listed in the report as individuals involved in disappearances from entering the countries of the European Union and the United States. More than 200,000 copies of the report were distributed in Belarus by supporters of Civil Initiative We Remember.
In 2004 Belarus Democracy Act was adopted. This document that refers to Civil Initiative We Remember as an organization apt for international interaction was approved by the U.S. Congress and signed by President George W. Bush.
Civil Initiative We Remember openly condemns the government of Belarus for disappearances of political opponents of the regime, violations during the electoral process, pressure exerted on the civic society and repressions. Actions and pickets organized by We Remember serve now as they will do in the future as a constant reminder that the issue of enforced disappearances will never be left behind.
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