A/HRC/41/52 4. Cultural rights 85. According to the latest sociological studies, 48 per cent of the population consider Belarusian their native language.96 Information received, however, indicates that access to education in Belarusian remains limited, especially for higher education. 97 Education in other languages is also an issue for the Polish minority which only has two full-time Polish schools.98 The Special Rapporteur would like to point out the right of everyone to take part in cultural life, including through language, and the requirement for States to guarantee that minorities are provided with specific educational programmes. 99 She encourages the Government to step up its efforts to support the Belarusian language and ensure that minorities are given the opportunity to study in their language. E. Situation of human rights defenders and civil society organizations 86. As exemplified throughout the present report, the situation of human rights defenders and civil society organizations remains very difficult. That is particularly the case if their activities are perceived as challenging governmental policies or covering sensitive topics. For many, their organizations are not registered owing to restrictions on freedom of association, which expose them to a range of potential administrative and criminal violations. 87. Despite being faced with persistent difficulties, civil society actors have continued to show resilience, perseverance and innovation. New ways to mobilize funding, such as crowd funding, has increasingly been used to implement small projects or pay administrative fines issued to activists and human rights defenders. The emergence of social entrepreneurship is a positive trend but it does not replace a legal framework clearly protecting civil society activists and their legitimate activities. 88. The Special Rapporteur welcomes the gradual inclusion of civil society actors in a number of consultative forums. Civil society organizations have long been providing highquality comments on draft laws and regulations but it is regrettable that their inputs are not taken sufficiently into consideration. Their participation in the development of the next national human rights action plan would also give the plan more credibility. IV. Conclusions and recommendations 89. In comparison to previous years, the period covered by the present report was not marked by major political or social events, which traditionally lead to an increase in human rights violations. Given the cyclical character of periods of serious human rights deterioration, interpreting this as a sign of improvement would however be misguided. The Special Rapporteur has found that systemic and systematic violations documented previously remain present in law and practice. With presidential and parliamentary elections due to take place in or before 2020, the risk of a further deterioration in the situation, especially regarding fundamental freedoms, is far from excluded. 90. In the past few years, Belarus has displayed more willingness to engage and cooperate with the international human rights system. That is a welcome development but clear improvements on the ground and in the legislation are needed to attest to the Government’s commitment to address persistent human rights issues. The fact that no progress has been recorded on the issue of the death penalty, which has been 96 97 98 99 See www.kp.by/online/news/3381149/ (in Russian). See https://belsat.eu/en/news/belsat-launches-campaign-to-improve-de-facto-status-of-belarusianlanguage/. See https://polandin.com/38279782/belarus-says-yes-to-polish-pupils-for-now. See Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 21 (2009) on the right of everyone to take part in cultural life, para. 12. 19