A/HRC/23/52 21. In 2012, the Government submitted its mid-term progress report on the implementation of universal periodic review recommendations. 10 The submission of midterm reports is not an obligation, but is a good practice encouraged by the High Commissioner. 22. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights continued to provide Belarus with technical assistance. On the request of the Government, assistance has focused on the issues of human trafficking and discrimination. This has included the development of a project on the theme “Combating trafficking in human beings: new challenges and threats” with UNDP in Belarus and the Minsk International Training Centre on Migration and Combating Trafficking. The project is currently being registered in accordance with national requirements. Planning is under way for a two-day antidiscrimination workshop, to be held in Minsk in June 2013. II. Positive developments A. National human rights institution 23. In 2012, Belarus indicated its intention to establish an institution of a human rights commissioner, in accordance with a recommendation from its universal periodic review in 2010.11 It announced it would hold consultations with non-governmental organizations to launch the said initiative, but subsequently failed to directly inform all intended participants.12 B. Prisoners: access and release 24. In September 2012, Archbishop Claudio Gugerotti, the Apostolic Nuncio in Minsk, was allowed to visit the imprisoned political opponents and human rights defenders Ales Bialiatski, Mikalai Statkevich, Dzmitry Dashkevich, Pavel Seviarynets, Siarhei Kavalenka, Pavel Syramalotau and Eduard Lobau. 13 As the inmates had been enduring deprivations in their prison conditions, health supplies and in the visits of their lawyers and relatives, the visit was, according to individual consultations with relatives and diplomats of the Holy See, a welcome relief and resulted in the temporary cessation of the use of solitary cells for some of the inmates. The prisoners‟ relatives expressed their gratitude to Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI and the Apostolic Nuncio, and asked that they facilitate the prompt release of all political opponents and activists. 25. In September 2012, Mr. Kavalenka and Mr. Syramalotau, who had been sentenced on criminal charges during the demonstrations of December 2010, were released. In June 2012, they had signed a request for a pardon that acknowledged their guilt, after being exposed to increasingly harsh detention conditions. 10 11 12 13 6 See www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/UPR/Pages/UPRImplementation.aspx. A/HRC/15/16, para. 97.4. Final document of the Belarusian human rights defenders´ working meeting, 16 October 2012. Available from www.civicsolidarity.org/sites/default/files/belarus_humanrights_defenders_position_nhri.pdf. See http://spring96.org/en/news/58867.