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Honorary consul criticizes Belarus' charity work environment

Belarus must improve its environment for charity work, Klaas Koops, Belarus' honorary consul in the Netherlands, said in an interview with BelaPAN.

Mr. Koops, who is president of Stichting Rusland Kinderhulp, a major Dutch charity, noted that organizations were discouraged from making charity donations by Alyaksandr Lukashenka's 2005 edict, which requires every donation made by an organization to be approved by its shareholders or a higher-level organization. Apart from this, he added, donors enjoy no tax concessions in Belarus.

He described the 25th Chernobyl anniversary, which will be marked next year, as Belarus' last chance of attracting the international community's attention to the aftermath of the world's worst nuclear accident.

Foreign charities' interest in supporting Chernobyl relief programs has been dampened as people who started helping Belarus shortly after the accident have been growing old and passing away, Mr. Koops said.

New local charity programs must be developed in Belarus as foreign donors will stop their aid to the country sooner or later, he stressed.