Nasta Loika
Nasta Loika is a prominent Belarusian woman human rights defender. In her human rights work, Nasta Loika has been focusing on repressive “anti-extremist” laws, and on the protection of the migrants and stateless people rights in Belarus. The woman human rights defender has also been working in the field of human rights education. In the summer of 2021, Belarus authorities shut down the organization Nasta Loika used to work with, Human Constanta, which promoted public interests and joint actions in response to modern challenges in the field of human rights, as a part of an orchestrated attack against the civil society in the country.
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.
