A/HRC/29/43 legislative acts. The Court may also initiate proceedings on its own initiative (art. 158). In its annual report for 2014, the Court stated that it received 780 requests under the new law and had examined three cases, of which two on labour law and one on pensions. The report does not, however, provide disaggregated data, and the decisions of the Court are not made public. 25. With regard to positive developments in national legislation, the amendments to the law on public associations and on political parties, which came into force on 20 February 2014, allow in part for the reduction in the required number of founders from various regions required to establish a public organization and increased requirements for the dissolution of public associations (A/69/307, para. 45). The permission-based process itself of registering associations has, however, not changed, allowing for arbitrary, selective and politicized decisions on registration. 26. On 17 December 2014, the Parliament passed amendments to the law on mass media, allowing the Government to increase significantly its pressure on the independent media.3 The amendments provide in particular that owners of online resources are responsible for the content posted, including material considered to be extremist information or “other information capable of harming the national interests” of Belarus; the Ministry of Information may block access to online resources without court authorization if two warnings have been issued within 12 months and the scope for reasons to issue warnings has been expanded. There are also concerns that the requirement for accreditation will be used to restrict journalists’ access to information. 4 27. Except for the requirement of registration, the law on mass media as amended will also be fully applicable to online media. Specifically, authorities in Belarus have stated that the “dissemination of information that may …pose a threat to national security may result in the blocking of websites.”5 III. Engagement with the international human rights system 28. Over the years, various international human rights mechanisms have made recommendations to bring legislation, policies and practice into line with the commitments of Belarus under international human rights law. The implementation of these recommendations remains very limited. 29. The Special Rapporteur notes that two national consultations were held in 2014 with the aim of implementing the recommendations from the first universal periodic review of Belarus, to which only registered non-governmental organizations were invited to attend. Follow-up documents were not made available to the public. 6 The Special Rapporteur also notes that, in the preparation of the second review of Belarus, only registered nongovernmental organizations were consulted. 30. Since the previous report of the Special Rapporteur, a number of cases have been filed under the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. At its 112th session, in October 2014, the Human Rights Committee adopted views 3 4 5 6 6 Viasna Human Rights Center, “Situation of Human Rights in Belarus in December 2014”, 13 January 2015. Coalition report submitted on 15 September 2014 by Belarusian non-governmental organizations for the second universal periodic review of Belarus, p. 9. Viasna, “Situation of Human Rights in Belarus” (see footnote 3). Coalition report (see footnote 4), p. 3.