Statements by BAJ and partners

RFE/RL essential as key source of free information for Belarusian society — BAJ statement

The Belaru­sian Asso­ci­a­tion of Jour­nal­ists express­es sol­i­dar­i­ty with the employ­ees of Radio Free Europe/Radio Lib­er­ty and Voice of Amer­i­ca, who may face clo­sure due to recent deci­sions by U.S. author­i­ties.

17.03.2025

Campaign Call: Free Mzia Today

Jour­nal­ists, news­rooms, press free­dom advo­cates, human rights defend­ers, and jour­nal­ists’ orga­ni­za­tions call for Mzia Ama­glo­beli’s release.

21.02.2025

EFJ calls for mobilisation of European donors

The U.S. Agency for Inter­na­tion­al Devel­op­ment (USAID), one of the largest offi­cial aid agen­cies in the world, has been instruct­ed to stop projects fol­low­ing a 90-day for­eign aid freeze imposed by Sec­re­tary of State Mar­co Rubio. The mea­sure affects dozens of inde­pen­dent media out­lets in more than 30 coun­tries, deprived of U.S. sup­port pro­grams to strength­en […]

29.01.2025

Belarus: ahead of sham election, RSF files ICC complaint for Lukashenko’s crimes against humanity targeting journalists

After five years of inflict­ing an unprece­dent­ed crack­down on the press, Alexan­der Lukashenko is set to run for a sev­enth pres­i­den­tial term on Sun­day, 26 Jan­u­ary. Reporters With­out Bor­ders (RSF) has filed a com­plaint with the Inter­na­tion­al Crim­i­nal Court (ICC) against the Belaru­sian leader for crimes against human­i­ty, as jour­nal­ists con­tin­ue to be over­whelm­ing­ly tar­get­ed […]

24.01.2025

Media organisations in solidarity with journalists and media in Georgia

Faced with vio­lence, threats, deten­tions, equip­ment destruc­tion and seizure, jour­nal­ists in Geor­gia are enter­ing what is sup­posed to be a fes­tive peri­od with uncer­tain­ty and fear for their safe­ty. Sol­i­dar­i­ty and sup­port is need­ed now more than ever.

20.12.2024

BAJ calls for end to «witch hunt» and use of «anti-extremist» legislation to stifle media

Just last week, media work­ers from two more region­al pub­li­ca­tions were thrown behind bars. The BAJ esti­mates that at least 45 jour­nal­ists are in prison today.

16.12.2024

Ihar Ilyash recognised as political prisoner

On Novem­ber 22, 2024, a joint state­ment by Belaru­sian human rights orga­ni­za­tions regard­ing the sit­u­a­tion with jour­nal­ist Ihar Ilyash was pub­lished.

22.11.2024

Media Freedom Coalition statement on the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists 2024

The Media Free­dom Coali­tion com­mem­o­rates the 10th anniver­sary of the Inter­na­tion­al Day to End Impuni­ty for Crimes against Jour­nal­ists to high­light the indis­pens­able role of jour­nal­ists and media work­ers report­ing from cri­sis- and con­flict-zones in uncov­er­ing the most undoc­u­ment­ed affairs of our time, and to stress the dan­gers they face due to their ded­i­ca­tion.

04.11.2024

IPI condemns arrests of two more journalists

The IPI glob­al net­work demands the release of Belaru­sian jour­nal­ists Ihar Ilyash and Dani­il Palian­s­ki, whose deten­tions were report­ed on in the space of a week by inde­pen­dent Belaru­sian media.

25.10.2024

IFJ and EFJ demand the release of jailed journalists on the 4th anniversary of the fraudulent elections

The Inter­na­tion­al and the Euro­pean Fed­er­a­tion of Jour­nal­ists (IFJ-EFJ) join their affil­i­ate, the Belaru­sian Jour­nal­ists’ Asso­ci­a­tion (BAJ), in call­ing on the regime to release all jour­nal­ists and media work­ers behind bars. The Fed­er­a­tions also urge the author­i­ties to stop their harass­ment of exiled jour­nal­ists, includ­ing raid­ing their res­i­dences and caus­ing dis­tress to their fam­i­lies to […]

09.08.2024

BAJ and the Press Club Belarus call on the Polish authorities to preserve Belsat TV channel

The largest Belaru­sian media orga­ni­za­tions, the Belaru­sian Asso­ci­a­tion of Jour­nal­ists and the Press Club Belarus have urged the Pol­ish author­i­ties to pre­serve the Belaru­sian tele­vi­sion chan­nel Bel­sat.

06.08.2024

Journalist Alena Tsimashchuk declared political prisoner

Joint state­ment by the Belaru­sian human rights com­mu­ni­ty.

14.06.2024

Belarusian authorities invade homes of 2 exiled journalists

The Com­mit­tee to Pro­tect Jour­nal­ists calls on Belaru­sian author­i­ties to stop harass­ing exiled jour­nal­ists and ensure the media can work freely, both abroad and at home.

22.05.2024

Journalist Ihar Karnei recognized as political prisoner

26.03.2024

Dzmitry Pankavets was never the head of BAJ Ethics Commission. Belarusian Association of Journalists strongly condemns all domestic violence

10.03.2024