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On 7 July 2022 in Vienna, at the Permanent Council of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Lithuania urged Belarus not to violate OSCE commitments to ensure teaching in national minority languages. Belarus adopted new amendments of its Education Code, under which from 1st September 2022 it will no longer provide the education in Lithuanian language in Lithuanian schools in Rymdziuny and Pelesa.

“The actions taken by the Belarus authorities violate international obligations and OSCE commitments undertaken with respect to national minorities and will most negatively affect the educational and linguistic rights of the national minorities in Belarus, including the Lithuanian minority. This is a first step toward closure of the national minorities’ schools in Belarus” emphasised Nida Jakubonė, Chargé d'Affaires of the Permanent mission of the Republic of Lithuania to the International Organisations in Vienna.

At the meeting High Commissioner on National Minorities, Ambassador Kairat Abdrakhmanov presented his activity report, in which, among other issues, he noted that he had urged the authorities of Belarus to reconsider the amendments and to ensure an agreeable approach to national minority language education. The High Commissioner's report also drew attention to Russia's actions, underlining his deep concern that the latter had used the issue of national minorities to justify its aggression against Ukraine.

The report of the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities can be found here.