Alena Masliukova To Officials: It’s Not Us For You, It’s You For Us
- 28.05.2019, 17:33
In Svetlahorsk, people are threatened with dismissal for signatures under an appeal to the Ministry of Health.
A few days ago, parents of children who live in Svetlahorsk and Yakimava Slabada began collecting signatures for an appeal to the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Belarus, Viasna HRC reports.
With regard to the regular emission of poisons that are harmful to health, from the bleached pulp plant, they ask officials from the Ministry to influence this situation and contribute to the closure of the enterprise before eliminating all technical problems. In this appeal, they refer to the Law of the Republic of Belarus “On the Rights of the Child”, which defines the inalienable right of every child to protection and promotion of health. Parents also insist on banning walks of children in kindergartens and outdoor physical education classes in schools during the onset of bad smells.
According to Svetlahorsk human rights activist Alena Masliukova, over 100 signatures have already been collected. But, as she became aware in the morning of May 28, in some enterprises and institutions people began to be intimidated by dismissal, if they sign the appeal. For this reason, some of the parents asked for their signatures to be withdrawn, fearing to lose their job.
Human rights activist Alena Masliukova considers this as the pressure on the people who just want to use constitutional rights to protect their environmental rights and their children:
“In this case, I advise you to file a statement with the prosecutor’s office on these managers and officials. We need to defend our rights. The emphasis needs to be changed - we are not for them, but they are for us.
Article 40 of the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus provides the right to any citizen or group of persons to apply to any state body on any matter. By turning to the Ministry of Health, people protect the health of their children, relatives and friends, as well as the right to breathe clean air, but in no way violate law and order. It is necessary to clearly understand this and convey to your superiors. People want to exercise their constitutional right, but they are not allowed to do so. "