On 7 April 2025, Lawyers for Lawyers (L4L), the Belarusian Association of Human Rights Lawyers (BAHRL), and Right to Defence submitted a joint report for the fourth Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Belarus. The next UPR of Belarus will take place in November 2025.
The report raises serious concerns about Belarus’s compliance with its international human rights obligations, particularly in relation to the UN Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers. Since the 2020 presidential elections, the Belarusian authorities have systematically dismantled the independence of the legal profession, placing it under extensive executive control, and targeted lawyers for exercising their professional role.
The submission highlights the erosion of institutional independence through restrictive amendments to the Law on the Bar and Advocacy, which have abolished independent legal practice and granted the Ministry of Justice broad powers over admissions, disciplinary processes, and bar association leadership. Lawyers are regularly subjected to arbitrary disciplinary proceedings, re-certification, and disbarment, particularly those working on politically sensitive cases.
The submitting organisations have been informed of the widespread violations of the right to a fair trial and effective defence in the country. Lawyers are routinely denied access to clients and case files, face breaches of lawyer-client confidentiality, and operate under the threat of criminal prosecution or incommunicado detention. These practices violate Principle 16 of the UN Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers, which obliges states to ensure that lawyers can perform their professional functions without intimidation, hindrance, harassment, or improper interference. The case of lawyer Maksim Znak, who has been held incommunicado since February 2023, exemplifies a broader pattern of intimidation tactics systematically employed by the Belarusian authorities.
The report further underscores restrictions on lawyers’ freedoms of expression, association, and assembly, with disbarments and prosecutions often stemming from the peaceful exercise of these rights. The cumulative effect of this repression has severely undermined access to legal aid in Belarus, particularly in politically motivated cases, with an increasing number of lawyers forced into exile or barred from practicing.
In light of these developments, L4L, BAHRL, and the Right to Defence call on UN Member States to issue the following recommendations:
- Revise the Law on Advocacy and Advocacy Activities to ensure its compliance with international standards, eliminating any provisions that undermine the independence of the legal profession in Belarus.
- Cease all executive interference in admission procedures for lawyers, ensure that disciplinary proceedings are free from executive interference, and immediately reinstate all licenses of lawyers unjustly disbarred or sanctioned for exercising their professional duties, in accordance with international law and standards.
- Refrain from any actions that may constitute harassment, persecution, or undue interference in the work of lawyers, including their arrest or criminal prosecutions on improper grounds such as the expression of critical views or the nature of the cases the lawyer is involved in.
- Ensure the immediate and unconditional release of all lawyers and human rights defenders who have been arbitrarily detained or prosecuted for carrying out their legitimate professional activities.
- Guarantee lawyers’ fundamental rights to freedom of expression, assembly, and association as outlined in ICCPR Articles 19 and 21, as well as Principle 23 of the UN Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers and cease the systematic censorship of all lawful activities related to association and expression, and free exchange of ideas between lawyers.
- Take immediate measures to ensure that lawyers have unrestricted access to their clients and maintain the full confidentiality of their communications, including during pre-detention and when lawyers’ offices and residences are subject to searches by investigative authorities.
- Take immediate action to guarantee due process and fair trial rights, including by providing lawyers with full access to case files without undue delay or restrictions, both in law and practice.
- Conduct independent and impartial investigations into all allegations of torture and ill-treatment, bring any suspected perpetrators to justice in fair trials, to ensure accountability for officials responsible for these violations in compliance with international law.
The full submission and recommendations are available here.
