APPEAL OF THE BELARUSIAN FUND OF PEACE

ON BEHALF OF BELARUSIANS TO LEADERS OF WESTERN STATES AND HEADS OF INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

ON THE ILLEGALITY OF THE APPLICATION OF SANCTIONS AGAINST BELARUS

Adopted at the meeting of the Board of the NGO «Belarusian Peace Fund» on August 4, 2022, National Library of Belarus, Minsk

Sent to:

Joe Biden, President of the United States of America;

Boris Johnson, Prime-Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland ;

Emmanuel Macron, President of the French Republic;

Olaf Scholz, Federal Chancellor of Germany;

Antonio Guterres, United Nations Secretary General;

Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission;

Josep Borrell, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Vice-President of the European Commission;

Helga Maria Schmid, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Secretary General

Your Excellency!

The Belarusian Fund of Peace is addressing you with this letter.

Our public association is the oldest organization in the Republic of Belarus promoting the principles of peace-keeping and peace-building. We are not a political organization and are not funded by the state. Over 1,000,000 citizens of Belarus are involved in carrying out the activities of the Fund of Peace, including representatives of 156 nationalities and 25 religious denominations. In this regard, we address on behalf of the civil society of the Republic of Belarus.

The Belarusian Fund of Peace has been consolidating representatives of all professions and all population groups of our country, people of different age and different religions for over 60 years. The leaders of all religious faiths in Belarus are represented among the authorities of the organization.

Our activities aim at implementing simple ideas that are important for everybody: peace, friendship, mutual understanding, consent and consolidation peoples. Every day we deal with the interests of different people. Today we consider it important to become the transfer point of the opinions of ordinary people of Belarus, whose everyday life is far from the global and geopolitical goals and objectives.

Your Excellency!

We would like to draw your attention to the fact that the Republic of Belarus is not a side of the conflict between Ukraine and Russia. Nevertheless, the arsenal of sanctions is used against Belarus.

It is historically proved that sanctions do not bring the results expected by their initiators or supporters. The major negative impact affects simple people: the quality of life decreases, people lose their jobs, families crumble, children suffer. All people of Belarus share the opinion that the sanctions against our country are unjust.

Despite the pressure on Belarus we are still looking at the current situation from the point of importance to provide help and assistance to people, who became victims of this conflict. Peaceful citizens of Ukraine, who escaped from the war to the Republic of Belarus, found food and home here as well as loyal and reliable friends. They have all they need, and if they wish, they may stay for permanent residence in the country.

That is why, while carrying out our activities in different areas of Belarus, we often hear people’s words of bewilderment: why others try to engage Belarus in the conflict in various ways.

The Belarusian Fund of Peace is a public organization, and the theme of nuclear non-proliferation is significant for us. We assume that it is important to point out the following:

On December 5, 1994 in Budapest at the OSCE Summit the global community committed itself, and the leaders of the United Kingdom and the United States signed the Memorandum on Security Assurances as the Republic of Belarus joined the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Belarus became the first state to refuse from a possibility to possess nuclear weapons without any preconditions and clauses. This decision was based on the willingness of the society, the people of Belarus.

The United Kingdom and the United States thereby provided Belarus with the guarantees of its independence, territorial integrity and sovereignty, committed themselves to refrain from “economic coercion designed to subordinate to their own interest the exercise by the Republic of Belarus of the rights inherent in its sovereignty”.

We consider the sanction policy against Belarus to contradict humanism, and we consider it to be ‘a mechanism of economic coercion’ as it is mentioned in the Budapest Memorandum.

The people of Belarus reject any form of violence. We are much interested in the fastest settlement of the conflict in Ukraine and committed to ensuring peace between the conflicting parties as soon as possible.

At this time, which is difficult for all people, we urge not to raise tensions by imposing new sanctions against our country and urge to cancel the previous ones as well as to ensure implementation of the Budapest Memorandum commitments.

We request you, Your Excellency, for the benefit of peace and consent in the world to take all necessary steps to switch from unilateral mechanisms of pressure by sanctions to peaceful diplomatic conflict resolutions and settlements. For our part, if necessary, we are ready to act as a peacekeeping platform and participate in negotiations on various issues.

Sincerely yours,

Chairman of the Board of the Public Association

“The Belarusian Fund of Peace” Maksim Misko