The 2016 issue of the Journal largely resulted from a conference organised by the Ostrogorski Centre and the UCL School of Slavonic and Eastern European Studies in London in March 2016. The conference gathered around 20 scholars of Belarus from the United Kingdom, Germany, United States, Canada, Poland, and France. Three papers were selected for publication alongside the annual lecture on Belarusian Studies delivered by Professor Andrew Wilson.
Awards ceremonies encourage the most prominent civil society leaders and events of 2016. DisRight Office's study: only one-fifth of tourist attractions in Minsk is fully accessible for disabled. Advertising of underwear sparks the feminist debate. Situation in Belarus still frozen, human rights defenders say. Almost 5 tonnes of clothing collected by UberGIVING campaign. APB BirdLife launches a wolf blog. MFA Head meets with Baćkaŭščyna NGO.
As of 26 December 2016, the oil and gas dispute between Belarus and Russia remains unresolved. Moreover, Russia persistently rejects any tradeoffs: this deprives Belarus of a substantial part its foreign exchange earnings from petroleum product sales, thus aggravating the economic recession in Belarus. In turn, the growth of state debt points to the formation of stable insolvency for most state-owned enterprises and increases the risk of a banking crisis in the economy.
In 2016 Belarus Digest readers were particularly interested in our articles on security issues and relations of Belarus and Russia. Other popular stories covered visa policies of Belarus as well as topics such as migration to Poland, potash trade and the 30th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster. Belarus Digest team wishes its readers a healthy, productive and happy new year! Below is our top 10 most read stories published in 2016.
On 15 December, the best Belarusian crowdfunded projects of 2016 received awards in Minsk. 15 finalists received funding totaling $19,500. Crowdfunding has become one of the simplest and most accessible forms of civic participation. In a nondemocratic environment, crowdfunding is one of the safest ways of practising social activism. The best Belarusian campaigns of 2016 were mainly related to social and cultural issues, whereas few projects considered human rights or the environment. The relative unpopularity of such themes can be explained by potential conflict with state interests.
On the eve of the winter holidays, the NGO 'Pact' usually takes a look at the most prominent events to affect Belarusian civil society over the past year. Here we present our take on the top ten developments of 2016 (categories are in alphabetical order). Our categories may vary from year to year as it is not our goal to track trends, but rather to highlight major events taking place in Belarus each year.
In December, analysts of the Ostrogorski Centre discussed Belarus' vote at the UN General Assembly, ongoing tension between Belarus and Lithuania over the Astraviec NPP, and the situation of Belsat TV. On 13 December the Ostrogorski Centre and the Embassies of the Netherlands and Poland organised a conference on education as a human right in Minsk. The Ostrogorski Centre, the UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES), and the Francis Skaryna Belarusian Library and Museum announced a Call for Papers for the conference ‘Belarusian Studies in the 21st Century’.
On 20 December, Polish MP Robert Tyszkiewicz publicly stated that Poland will hold parliamentary debates on the future of Belsat, an independent Belarusian TV channel based in Poland. According to Tyszkiewicz, 'the termination of Belsat TV would mean a U-turn in Polish foreign policy, we would consider this a political mistake.' Nearly all Polish politicians, journalists, and analysts covering Belarus share this stance. Moreover, Belarusian civil society, including leading figures in the Belarusian Polish minority, condemn the Polish Ministry for Foreign Affairs' proposal to cut support for Belsat.
Belarus aims to expand its cooperation with Malaysia and hosts another high-level visit from Poland. The Belarusian delegation visits the US to discuss economic cooperation and investment with state agencies and corporations. The authorities arrest three Belarus-based journalists from the Russian media on charges of propagating extremism. The KGB discloses large-scale corruption schemes within the state procurement system. This and more in the new edition of Belarusian state press digest.
Relations between Belarus and the European Union are still in crisis. An EU resolution on Belarus, delivered on 24 November, once again demonstrated just how weak bilateral relations are. According to the document, the Belarusian government has yet to resolve several key problems hindering the EU-Belarus partnership from progressing further. Human rights issues remain the main reason the EU has not ratified the bilateral Partnership and Cooperation Agreement concluded with Belarus in 1995. At present, the Eastern Partnership programme is the only effective framework sustaining diplomacy between the EU and Belarus.
On 26 November 2016, a 36-year old woman was killed in a car accident as she was crossing the road in the village of Darava in the Brest region. The drunk driver responsible for the accident turned out to be the head of the Baranavičy road police. Alcohol is only one of many problems tarnishing the public perception of the police forces. Arbitrariness, a lack of integrity, and insufficient transparency all undermine the reputation of the police.
In an interview published yesterday on Wpolityce.pl, Poland’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Witold Waszczykowski announced that his Ministry is considering closing down Belsat, the only Belarusian language satellite channel. The possibility that Belsat may be taken off the air has shocked Belarusian civil society as it is probably the largest Western-sponsored project aimed at Belarus. Without the active pro-democracy and pro-independence minority in Belarus, which creates and relies on Belsat, the prospect of Belarus being entirely swallowed up by the Russian world could become even more real. Neither the Polish nor the Belarusian authorities want it.
In December Belarusian analysts focused on informational security of Belarus, reforms of state sector and foreign aid to Belarus civil society. Anna Maria Dyner of PISM analyses prospects of Belarus-EU relations. Uladzimir Mackievič claims an urgent need to organise informational resistance against Russia CET: in 2006-2014, Belarus received over 1 billion from international donors. IPM Research Centre presents a paper with key findings and recommendations of KEF-2016. This and more in the new edition of digest of Belarusian analytics.
On 13 December 2016 Minsk hosts the 4th Annual Dutch-Belarusian-Polish Conference. The year the topic is 'Education as a Human Right: Modernising Higher Education to Meet the Challenges of the 21st Century'. The conference takes place three days after International Human Rights Day, which commemorates the adoption in 1948 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations General Assembly. The event focuses on three key topics: the challenges of Belarus accession to the European Higher Education Area, improving business education, and making education more accessible through distance education.