Chinmaya IAS Academy – Current Affairs Chinmaya IAS Academy – Current Affairs
Recently, the European Union (EU) imposed sanctions against Belarus, including banning its airlines from using the airspace and airports of the 27-nation bloc EU.
Important points:
- Europe’s longest-serving ruler, President of Belarus Lukashenko took office in 1994 amid the chaos caused by the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
- Often described as Europe’s “last dictator”, he has tried to preserve elements of Soviet communism.
- He has been in power for 26 years, keeping much of the economy in state hands, and using censorship and police crackdowns against opponents.
- In 2020, after Lukashenko was announced as the winner in elections, protests broke out in the capital, Minsk which was met with a violent security crackdown.
- There has been widespread anger against the government over a stagnant economy and doubts about the fairness of the election.
Previous Sanctions:
- In response to the violent crackdown, the EU and the United States (US) imposed several rounds of financial sanctions against Belarus in 2020.
- The US also imposed travel restrictions and targeted financial sanctions on nine state-owned entities and 16 individuals, including President Lukashenko. First imposed in 2006, these were tightened in 2008.
- The EU first introduced restrictive measures against Belarus in 2004, following the disappearance of two opposition politicians, a journalist and a businessman several years earlier.
- Belarus forcely diverted a passenger jet and scrambled a warplane to arrest an opposition journalist in an act denounced by Western powers as “state piracy” (an act of piracy where the state is involved).
Restrictions on Airspace:
- Called for Belarusian airlines to be banned from the 27-nation bloc’s airspace and urged EU-based carriers to avoid flying over the former Soviet republic.
- Agreed to widen the list of Belarusian individuals they already sanction and called on the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to urgently investigate Belarus forcing a Ryanair plane to land in Minsk on a Greece-Lithuania flight.
- It also called for the release of the journalist who was detained.
Sanctions on Individuals and Businesses:
- Since October 2020, the EU has progressively been restricting more and more key political figures with measures like travel bans and asset freezes.
- With the recent incident, the bloc decided to add even more targets to its sanction list of 88 individuals and seven entities.
- Billion-Euro Economic Package:
- The EU had a 3 billion Euro investment package ready for Belarus that it will now freeze until the country turns democratic.
Implications:
- Belarus lies on the flight path of routes within Europe and between Europe and Asia. Skirting Belarus would slow flights down and cost airlines money.
- Belarus receives income from airlines that enter its airspace of up to 70,000 Euro each day, losing this amount of money would be an inconvenience but not have a significant impact on the economy of Belarus.
International Civil Aviation Organisation
- It is a United Nations (UN)specialized agency, established in 1944, which laid the foundation for the standards and procedures for peaceful global air navigation.
- The Convention on International Civil Aviation was signed in December 1944 in Chicago.
- It established the core principles permitting international transport by air, and also led to the creation of the ICAO.
Objective:
- To foster the planning and development of international air transport so as to ensure the safe and orderly growth of international civil aviation throughout the world.
- India is among its 193 members.
- Montreal, Canada.
Way Forward
- The President of Belarus should ensure the formation of a legitimate government that could address the country’s vital problems.
- He has to reach out to the Opposition and offer talks to find a peaceful settlement to the crisis.
SOURCE: THE HINDU,THE ECONOMIIC TIMES,MINT
