The present report of Amnesty International aims to give an overview of the human rights situation in Belarus in the period 1999 to 2000. In Amnesty International’s experience impunity flourishes in conditions where effective legal and administrative mechanisms do not exist to bring perpetrators of human rights violations to justice. This report illustrates the extent to which, according to Amnesty, impunity has been allowed to develop unchecked in Belarus. Amnesty refers to the right of immediate access to his family and to legal representation as enshrined in international human rights standards, such as the Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers.