Nasta Loika
Nasta Loika is a prominent Belarusian woman human rights defender working in the field of human rights education. Her work addresses Belarus’s repressive “anti-extremist” laws and she advocates for the rights and protection of migrants and stateless people in Belarus. In the summer of 2021, the Belarusian authorities shut down the organisation where Nasta Loika previously worked, Human Constanta, an organisation which promoted public interests and joint actions in response to modern challenges in the field of human rights. The shutdown was part of an orchestrated attack against civil society in Belarus. Nasta Loika was awarded the Human Rights Defender of the Year 2022 Award by the Belarus human rights community in recognition of her outstanding work.
The environment for the work of human rights defenders (HRDs) in Belarus has continuously deteriorated since an authoritarian political regime was established there in 1994. HRDs are systematically subjected to intimidation and harassment, including judicial harassment, restrictions on freedom of expression, association and assembly, and movement, as well as arbitrary detention and conviction, ill-treatment and defamation, searches of offices and personal belongings, and confiscations of equipment. The widespread impunity of law enforcement officers contributes to even further human rights violations and retaliations against HRDs.
