Loading...
RSS
Belarus-Russia relations Belarusian language Belarusian military travel to Belarus
Why Support Belarus Digest?

Threats to Belarus, Eurasian Union, Political Prisoners – Digest of Belarusian Analytics

Belarusian analysts discuss the threat to Belarusian statehood from Russia, the pros and contras of the Eurasian Economic Union as well as protest potential and intensified contacts of Belarus with the West.

Foreign Policy

Karbalevich on Belarus: Hybrid Ally...

screen_shot_2015-04-10_at_15.11.01.png

.

Belarusian analysts discuss the threat to Belarusian statehood from Russia, the pros and contras of the Eurasian Economic Union as well as protest potential and intensified contacts of Belarus with the West.

Foreign Policy

Karbalevich on Belarus: Hybrid Ally – Valery Karbalevich believes that both the opposition and the authorities are aware of the threat of Belarus' independence from Russia, which arose after the accession of Crimea. According to the expert, to confront Russia, Belarus should become truly independent, ie, to create a viable economic system able to exist without Russian privileges. But Lukashenka cannot go for reforms, "because the transformation of Belarus is a bigger threat to his rule than the hybrid potential war with Russia."

Russian Media: Belarus Should Join Russia or It will Be Liquidated – The Russian business newspaper Vzglyad published an article calling for Alexander Lukashenka to hold a referendum in the autumn of 2015 on the accession of Belarus to Russia. The journalist notes that Lukashenka needs to decide whether he is with Russia or the West. Otherwise, Belarus could suffer the fate of Ukraine.

The Eurasian Economic Union: Analyses and Perspectives from Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Russia – In the present publication, four perspectives from three member states of the EEU have been drawn together, which together sharpen the vision on the emerging trends of the Eurasian integration process – and its numerous contradictions. Arseniy Sivickiy (Minsk) perspective on the EEU hinges on clear differences of interest in the design of the EEU contract and its implementation.

Politics

Opinion. Devaluation of Political Prisoners – Artiom Shraibman, TUT.BY, analyses recent developments in the warming relations between Belarus and the West: "The Europeans and the Americans themselves knocking at the door, saying that economic cooperation is no longer linked to political differences, does not contradict them." Accordingly, the political prisoners are not the most important obstacles anymore between Belarus and the West. This greatly increases the possibility that they will stay behind bars until the end of their terms.

Warming on the Western Front Can Help Belarus to Slip Into the Bologna Process – Representatives of the Council of Europe and the Monitoring Group of the Bologna Process have arrived in Minsk to ask questions about the readiness of Belarusian officials of higher education to join the European educational space. According to the Head of the Council of Europe's Education Department, Sjur Bergan, now "the political situation in the country is more favorable than in 2012, when Belarus was denied entry into the Bologna Process."

Belarusians' Protest Capacity Does Not Exclude New Ploscha – On the eve of the presidential elections 2015 and on the background of the Ukrainian events protest activity has increased in Belarus. These findings are contained in the annual monitoring, prepared by the Political Sphere Institute. In 2014, researchers recorded 127 protests. In comparison with 2013, the number of public actions increased by 26%, social conflicts – by 18%. The leader in the number of protest action of 2014 was Minsk.

Third Sector

Overview of Youth Policy and Youth Participation – Key barriers to youth participation at the policy level in Belarus are formalism, structural constraints, the lack of will of the authorities and personal factors. This is the conclusion of Belarusian National Youth Council RADA under its study conducted together with the Center for Legal Transformation. Currently the first two chapters are available: youth policy and youth participation in public and political life of the country. Chapters on youth labor and education are being prepared for publishing.

Legal Regulation of Economic Activities of NGOs – European Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ECNL) present an overview of the legal regulation of economic activities of civil society organizations in Europe. The research was done at the request of the Assembly of Pro-Democratic NGOs of Belarus and Legal Transformation Center. The research paper aims to indicate the options how civil society can independently earn money for their activities.

In Belarus there are 2,596 registered NGOs. In 2014, the Ministry of Justice registered 86 newly-established non-governmental organisations (1 international, 13 republican, 72 local), 3 unions (associations) of non-governmental organisations, 11 local foundations. In comparison to 2013, the total number of registered NGOs increased by 2.9% and to the moment reaches 2,596 NGOs. The most frequent activity among registered NGOs is sports and physical training (684 NGOs).​

Freedom of Association and Legal Conditions for Non-profit Organizations in Belarus. Review Period: January-March 2015 – NGO Assembly and LawTrend prepared the document covers the most important issues in the sphere of freedom of association for the period of the last 3 months. The Monitoring includes the list of non-commercial organisations registered during the review period: namely, 23 public associations, 3 foundations and 15 non-governmental institutions were registered.

Lessons Learnt of State Social Contracting in 2014 in Belarus – ACT NGO releases key findings of the first practices of state social contracting, implemented in Belarus. In 2014, 26 regions used the mechanism of state social contracting and subsidized the NGOs from local budgets for the total amount of more than 1.8 billion rubles (about $125 thsd). The study was carried out with the support of the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection.

Business, Opinion Polls, Human Rights

Top 5 Pro-Belarusian Business – Vadzim Mazheyka composes the top 5 business companies engaged in pro-Belarusian projects. The list includes, for example, Belgazprombank that made a loud exhibition project "Ten Centuries of Belarus Art", or network of gas stations A-100, which serve customers in Belarusian. The expert notes that the Belarusian business notices the popularity of Belarusian culture, and that means the latter is going beyond historical and political ghetto, and becoming a true social trend.

IISEPS National Survey in March 2015 – According to recent survey of Independent Institute of Socio-Political and Economic Studies (IISEPS), almost 40% of Belarusians believe that Belarus needs serious reforms (structural and system changes), and more than 42% agree for gradual reforms that would retain the current system. Alexander Lukashenka's electoral rating has dropped to 34.2% (almost by six percentage points compared with December 2014), due to the deteriorating economic situation.

Amnesty International Report 2014/15. The Amnesty International has released its regular report 2014/15 that documents the state of human rights in 160 countries and territories during 2014. Namely, the report states that Belarus remained the only country in Europe to carry out executions; the right to freedom of expression was severely restricted and journalists faced harassment; NGOs continued to be arbitrarily denied registration.

Five Years of Belarusian Web – Michail Darashevich, manager of Gemius in Belarus, analyses figures of Internet development in Belarus for the last five years. Namely, from December 2009 to December 2014, the Belarus online audience has risen by 65.5% or from 3.023 million to 5.004 people. The retired people group has risen from 1.28% to 5.56%; however, this is extremely little as compared to the whole Belarusian society. The number of daily users has grown from 72.70% to 82.73% of the whole Internet audience.

Belarus Digest prepared this overview on the basis of materials provided by Pact. This digest attempts to give a richer picture of the recent political and civil society events in Belarus. It often goes beyond the hot stories already available in English-language media.

211 reads
ankara escort çankaya escort çankaya escort escort bayan çankaya istanbul rus escort eryaman escort ankara escort kızılay escort istanbul escort ankara escort ankara escort escort ankara istanbul rus Escort atasehir Escort beylikduzu Escort Ankara Escort malatya Escort kuşadası Escort gaziantep Escort izmir Escort