Join USC POIR and the USC Global Policy Institute for “Courage Under Fire: Documenting Belarus’ Human Rights Crisis" on Wednesday, October 14 at 10:00 a.m. PST/1:00 p.m. EST/7 p.m. CET. This webinar and Q&A, moderated by USC professor Steve Swerdlow, invites human rights defenders and journalists to share their observations and experiences from Belarus' frontlines.

The conversation will be moderated by USC professor Steve Swerdlow.

For nearly two months Belarus has been gripped by unprecedented protests for political change sparked by the August 2020 presidential election of incumbent candidate Aleksandr Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus since 1994 with an iron fist. Following widely falsified results at the polls on August 9, largely peaceful protests have called for free and fair elections and an end to Lukashenko’s dictatorial rule. Human rights groups have documented Belarusian security services’ use of excessive and brutal force against protesters, in addition to the detention of thousands and widespread torture in places of detention.

The European Union and United States have condemned the ongoing violence, with the Baltic states imposing personal sanctions. Meanwhile, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe has initiated the Moscow Mechanism which allows for an international, independent investigation of serious human rights abuses.

Our speakers — Belarus-based journalist and Atlantic Council fellow Hanna Liubakova and Human Rights Watch Russia Program Director Tanya Lokshina —have been documenting Belarus’ human rights crisis. They will share their perspectives on Belarus’ unprecedented social and political transformation and outline steps the international community and civil society organizations can take to mitigate the violence.

Speakers

Tanya Lokshina, associate director for Human Rights Watch’s Europe and Central Asia division, is based in Moscow. Having joined Human Rights Watch in January 2008, Lokshina authored several reports on egregious abuses in Russia’s turbulent North Caucasus region and co-authored a report on violations of international humanitarian law during the 2008 armed conflict in Georgia. Her recent publications include a range of materials on Russia’s vicious crackdown on critics of the government and on violations of international humanitarian law during the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine. Lokshina is a recipient of the 2006 Andrei Sakharov Award, “Journalism as an Act of Conscience.” Her articles on human rights issues have been featured in prominent Russian and foreign media outlets, including CNN, the Guardian, Le Monde, the Moscow Times, Novaya Gazeta, and the Washington Post. Lokshina’s books include Chechnya Inside Out and Imposition of a Fake Political Settlement in the Northern Caucasus. In 2014, her article on the abusive virtue campaign against women in Chechnya was published in Chechnya at War and Beyond (Routledge Contemporary Russia and Eastern Europe Series).

Hanna Liubakova is a freelance journalist and researcher from Belarus. She is currently a journalist with Outriders, an international multimedia platform that produces in-depth multimedia and interactive reporting and focuses on solutions journalism. She also works as a journalism trainer and mentor. She started her career at the only independent Belarusian TV channel where she worked as a correspondent and TV presenter. Hanna has reported from various countries and regions, including Belgium, UK, Poland, France, and Chechnya. She was a recipient of the Václav Havel Journalism Fellowship at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in Czechia, as well as a World Press Institute Fellowship in the United States. Hanna received a degree in Art History from The Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland in 2010 and a Master of Art with distinction in International Journalism from Brunel University in London in 2017. She was awarded the Peter Caws Prize for best postgraduate dissertation.

Discussant

Robert D. English is Associate Professor of International Relations, with joint appointments in Environmental Studies and Slavic Languages and Literatures. He teaches courses on Russia and the former Soviet Union, Central Europe, technology and conflict, and the environment and global security. He holds a PhD from Princeton University, and previously taught at the Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies and also worked as a policy analyst in the U.S. Department of Defense. English is author or editor of three books including Russia and the Idea of the West: Gorbachev, Intellectuals, and the End of the Cold War (Columbia, 2000) as well as articles in such journals as International Security, Diplomatic History, Foreign Affairs and The National Interest.

Moderator

Steve Swerdlow, esq. is Associate Professor of the Practice of Human Rights in the Department of Political and International Relations at the University of Southern California. A human rights lawyer and expert on the former Soviet region, Swerdlow was Senior Central Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch, heading the organization’s work on Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, and founding its Kyrgyzstan field office. Swerdlow has worked as a consultant with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the International Labour Organization (ILO). Earlier Swerdlow was a fellow in the U.S. State Department’s Young Leaders for Public Service program in Russia and worked as a human rights monitor for the Union of Council for Soviet Jews (UCSJ) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Russia. Swerdlow practiced law in San Francisco at Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP, and served as law clerk to the Honorable Judge Dean Pregerson of the United States District Court for the Central District of California. Swerdlow received his J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law and M.A. in International Affairs from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs with a certificate in Post-Soviet Studies from the Harriman Institute.

Co-sponsored by the USC Department of Political Science and International Relations, the USC Global Policy Institute, USC's Human Rights Minor, Delta Phi Epsilon and the USC Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures.