BWI: UEFA must distance itself from Lukashenko

BWI called on the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) to distance itself from Belarusian strongman Alexander Lukashenko after its Executive Committee has picked Minsk to hold its Congress in March 2021. 

In a letter , BWI General Secretary Ambet Yuson and BWI Deputy President Dietmar Schaefers asked UEFA to reconsider its plan to hold its Congress in Belarus, citing the rampant human right violations against trade unionists and members of the opposition. 

Yuson said that if the UEFA Executive Council will push through with its plan to hold its Congress in Belarus, it will betray the essence of its own human rights policies. 

This was echoed by Schäfers who warned the UEFA not to provide Lukashenko an international stage to deodorize its image before the global community. 

“We ask the UEFA to reconsider its plan and look for other places to hold its congress. We also urge it to cancel all other football matches that will happen in Belarus to protest the widespread human rights abuses in the country. There must be no 'Lukashenko games’,” Schäfers said.