User:Voicesfrombelarus/sandbox

 Voices from Belarus  is a non-profit project founded in July 2020 by a small initiative group of volunteers in order to spread relevant news and information regarding the social and political situation in Belarus to the international community. Today it counts more than 150 volunteers.

 Purpose : Initially the project was born with the purpose to show the persecution of political opponents and their supporters during the pre-election period, the project has furtherly moved its focus on the stories of people whose life was affected by the events that followed the presidential elections of August 9 in Belarus. One of the reasons for the creation of Voices From Belarus is the fact that there were a limited number of resources in Belarus that published content in English. Thus, the main task of the project is to attract the attention of foreign audiences to the situation in the Republic of Belarus.

Today, the main purpose of the project is to make the global community aware of human rights violations, violence and other crimes against civilians taking place in Belarus. To achieve this, the volunteers gather and translate press articles, social posts and videos which contain the stories of victims and crimes. Afterwards, this content is distributed across the project’.s social media channels.

 Voices : Among people, whose stories are covered by the project, are: - victims of violence, tortures, harassment and intimidation committed by riot police during the first three days of post-election peaceful protests on 9-12 August; - common people persecuted by the authorities because of their political stand, including teachers, students, doctors, university professors, workers, etc; - lawyers who defend people who were or/and are currently detained in jails; - businessmen who participated in strikes by closing their shops and offices; - priests who stood against violence and oppression; - sportsmen, cultural figures, tv presenters and other opinion leaders who expressed their support of the protests or took part in protest marches and strikes; - journalists that work for independent or foreign media and don’t spread propaganda.

 Presence : Voices From Belarus has its online presence mainly on social networks. During its existence, many politicians and journalists have subscribed to the Twitter account maintained by Voices From Belarus in order to monitor the situation in Belarus from abroad.

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