Firstly, the OSCE is concerned because of the major crackdowns on independent media, NGOs, and people’s lives in general.

A senior official of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has denounced authorities in Belarus over their treatment of independent media. The OSCE’s special commissioner for the media, Miklos Haraszti, said today that restrictions have effectively shut down many non-state media outlets. His statements accompany the release of a broad assessment of media freedoms in Belarus, where President Alyaksandr Lukashenka has kept a tight hold on power for more than a decade.

Effectively, Belarus has earned the nickname of “the last dictatorship in Europe,” though that is debateable. The EU finally caught up to the game at least.

The European Parliament on 10 March adopted a strongly-worded resolution on Belarus, calling on EU member countries to recognize the current Belarusian regime as a “dictatorship” and President Alyaksandr Lukashenka as a “dictator,” Belapan and RFE/RL’s Belarus Service reported. The resolution condemns the Belarusian government’s crackdown on the political opposition and independent media and demands that the authorities release Mikhail Marynich, Valery Levaneuski, Alyaksandr Vasilyeu, and other persons whom it describes as “imprisoned political opponents of the regime.” The European Parliament also calls for “identifying and freezing the personal assets of President Lukashenka and those of other senior members of the regime who ensure the continuation of the dictatorship,” as well as expanding the list of Belarusian officials banned from entering the EU. The document also proposes creating alternative information sources for Belarusians, such as television and radio stations in neighboring countries and rendering support to independent media outlets in Belarus.

They’re only about half a year behind the U.S., who in October signed into law the Belarus Democracy Act, something Lukashenko regards as a — gasp — openly hostile move. You can read the previous posts on Belarus here to be come a bit more acquainted with the resistence movement ZUBR and the dire situation. Their presidential elections are in summer of 2006, and with enough international support, we might finally see some change there.