On 16 September 2026, through the mediation of John Coale, the U.S. President’s Special Envoy for Belarus, 25 political prisoners were released and forcibly taken to Lithuania. Among them were three I...

Join PEN International, PEN Eritrea in Exile and PEN Centres worldwide in demanding proof of life for Eritrea's disappeared journalists and writers.

This report draws on data collected by the PEN Belarus monitoring group from open sources, individual contacts, and personal meetings with cultural figures. The information reflects the situation at t...

YouTube video by Translation and Linguistic Rights Committee of PI

In light of the intensifying practice of designating Belarusian human rights organizations as extremist formations, we, a coalition of Belarusian and international human rights organizations, state th...

‘PEN members around the world have actively campaigned for the release of Kaciaryna Andrejeva and Valeryja Kaściuhova. While we rejoice at their freedom, we vehemently condemn the Belarusian authoriti...

8 March 2026: Writer, editor and political scientist Valeryja Kaściuhova is serving a 10-year prison sentence in Homel, Belarus. Arrested in June 2021, she was convicted in March 2023 on politically m...

Friends, On February 27, 2026, the KGB designated us an “extremist formation.” What does this mean? If you are in Belarus, travel to Belarus, or feel that you may be at risk for any reason: unsubscrib...

In Belarus, prison authorities systematically confiscate and destroy the literary manuscripts and letters of those imprisoned on politically motivated grounds. Their aim is not only to silence individ...

This report has been prepared based on consolidated information collected by PEN Belarus’ monitoring group from open sources, through personal contacts, and via direct communication with cultural figu...

On December 29, 2025, 52 new books were added to the list of printed publications that, according to the authorities, “may harm the national interests of the Republic of Belarus”: Our Neighbours on th...

INTRODUCTION Artistic freedom and protection of cultural diversity Artistic freedom [1] is the freedom to imagine, create and distribute diverse cultural expressions free of governmental censorship, p...

30 October 2025 – As the human rights record of Belarus comes under review at the United Nations on 3 November 2025, PEN Belarus, PEN International and PEN America reiterate grave concerns over the Be...

The two journalists, imprisoned in Belarus and Georgia, are the laureates of the 2025 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, to be awarded by Parliament on 16 December.

On September 26 the Ministry of Information updated the list of “extremist materials” and added three new books: Valer Hapiejeŭ, Volniery. The Harbinger (Januškievič, 2023) Valer Hapiejeŭ, Volniery. T...

Yesterday it became known that on September 26 the Ministry of Information updated the list of “extremist materials” and added three new books: Timothy Snyder, On Freedom (Kyiv: Nash Format, 2023(?)) ...

On September 30, 2025, 32 new books were added to the list of printed publications that, according to the authorities, “may harm the national interests of the Republic of Belarus,” including two books...

‘While we rejoice at the sight of Belarusian writers walking free after experiencing immense suffering, we utterly condemn their forced exile. The PEN community will continue to tirelessly campaign fo...

Today it became known that on September 10, by the decision of the Minsk’s Zavodski District Court, three new books were added to the list of “extremist materials.” Rainer Zitelmann, “Hitler: The Worl...

Actualment, hi ha més de mil presos polítics a Bielorússia, entre els quals prop de 33 són escriptors i professionals de la paraula, i 222 llibres estan prohibits.

On 11 September, 52 political prisoners (including 14 foreign citizens), were freed and forcibly taken out of Belarus. The pardons followed a meeting between Lukashenka and an American delegation that...

Lawyer, advocacte, poet, bard, author of the book "Zekamerone".

The Belarusian human rights organization Legal Initiative has submitted an official request to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), calling for an investigation...

It is our honor to announce that Maksim Znak, Belarusian lawyer, activist, and writer, is the 10th recipient of the Vaclav Havel Center’s Disturbing the Peace Award to a Courageous Writer at Risk. Cur...

[БЕЛ: Чытаць маніторынг па-беларуску] [РУС: Читать мониторинг по-русски] This report is based on aggregated information collected by the PEN Belarus monitoring group during the first half of 2025 from...

The coalition of Belarusian NGOs and the Belarusian Congress of Democratic Trade Unions presented an analytical report on the situation of human rights in the sphere of labor, intended for the UN Spec...

Belarusian publishers Nadia Kandrusevich (Koska) and Dmitri Strotsev (Hochroth Minsk) jointly awarded the 2025 International Publishers Association’s Prix Voltaire at the award ceremony World Expressi...

‘By prosecuting Joakim Medin, a Swedish national, the authorities of Türkiye are clearly seeking to muzzle the foreign press and intimidate all journalists into silence. We urge the authorities to end...

A coalition of Belarusian NGOs has submitted a joint report on Belarus’s fulfillment of its human rights obligations under the fourth cycle of the UPR. The report was prepared by: Belarusian Associati...

We respond to the investigation initiated by the General Prosecutor’s Office of “Georgian Dream,” within the framework of which the bank accounts of several organizations and funds, including those of...

YouTube video by Index on Censorship

“As the very principles of international human rights and humanitarian law are being increasingly questioned by governments worldwide, we must redouble our efforts, defending the values that unite us:...

Since October 2019, PEN Belarus has been systematically collecting facts about violations of cultural rights and human rights of cultural figures: arbitrary detentions and arrests, searches and interr...