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Belarusian NGOs under pressure from authorities, activist says

 

Belarusian non-governmental organizations are experiencing pressure from the authorities and the situation is unlikely to improve soon, Syarhey Matskevich, leader of the Assembly of Non-governmental Organizations, said at its congress in Minsk on June 16.

The government has strengthened its crackdown on civil society activists since the 2010 presidential election, according to Mr. Matskevich. “We cannot but notice that the number of activists has decreased, they have been arrested and persecuted. Ales Byalyatski, deputy chairman of the Assembly, is in prison and there is no hope for the improvement of the situation,” he said.

Syarhey Lisichonak, head of the Assembly’s Executive Bureau, said that Belarus had some 2,000 registered NGOs, “but one cannot say that civil society in the country is developing and has conditions for development. There are a large number of problems both at the level of laws and at the level of the enforcement of these laws,” he said. He referred to the Criminal Code’s Article 193-1, which provides for criminal punishment for acting on behalf of an unregistered organization, and noted NGOs’ problems with obtaining registration and receiving assistance.

“What matters most is that despite the unfavorable conditions, Belarus has thousands of registered and unregistered organizations that continue operations,” Mr. Lisichonak said.

Founded in 1997, the Assembly has been repeatedly denied legal status by the justice ministry and has been registered as a Lithuanian organization. It consists of more than 300 NGOs. // BelaPAN