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Addressing Discrimination and Inequality in Belarus

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Addressing Discrimination and Inequality in Belarus The Equal Rights Trust (ERT) is an independent international organisation whose purpose is to combat discrimination and promote equality as a fundamental human right and a basic principle of social justice. The Belarusian Helsinki Committee (BHC) is an au- public association established for the implementa- tonomous, independent, non-profit human rights - ernancetion of humanitarian and unites citizens activities of inBelarus the territory on the ofbasis the ofRepublic their common of Belarus. interests. It operates It is independent through self-gov from government, business bodies, political and non- The lastgovernmental dictatorship organisations. in Europe or a state for the people and a model of tolerance? This report – the first ever comprehensive- portrayal of discrimination and inequality in Belarus – reveals a complex picture. The repressive nature of the Belarusian re languagegime is well-known. and political Accordingly, opinion, against this report those findsassociated significant with evidence of discrimination on grounds of religion, ethnicity,- progressheterodox towards views of equality the country’s for women, future. disabled Yet it also persons, finds eviand otherdence groupsof a range traditionally of progressive exposed policies to discrimination.aimed at accelerating Thus, the report challenges some of the well-rehearsed stereotypes rightsabout today’sis limited. Belarus, while also asking how far it is possible to achieve equality in a country where respect for fundamental assistance of the European Union. The contents of thisThis reportreport are has the been sole prepared responsibility with ofthe The financial Equal Rights Trust and the Belarusian Helsinki Commit- of the European Union. tee and can in no way be taken to reflect the views THE EQUAL RIGHTS TRUST IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE BELARUSIAN HELSINKI COMMITTEE Half an Hour to Spring Addressing Discrimination and Inequality in Belarus Executive Summary ERT Country Report Series: 3 London, November 2013 The Equal Rights Trust (ERT) is an independent international organisation whose purpose is to combat discrimination and promote equality as a fundamental human right and a basic principle of social justice. Established as an advocacy organisation, resource centre and think tank, ERT focuses on the complex relationship between different types of discrimination, developing strategies for translating the princi- ples of equality into practice. © November 2013 The Equal Rights Trust © Cover NovemberLayout: Istvan 2013 DafinaFenyvesi Gueorguieva PrintedDesign: in Dafinathe UK Gueorguieva by Stroma Ltd All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be translated, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by other means without the prior written permission of the publisher, or a licence for restricted copying from the Copy- right Licensing Agency Ltd., UK, or the Copyright Clearance Centre, USA. The Equal Rights Trust 314-320 Gray's Inn Road London WC1X 8DP United Kingdom Tel. +44 (0) 207 610 2786 Fax: +44 (0) 203 441 7436 www.equalrightstrust.org www.equalrightstrust.org The Equal Rights Trust is a company limited by guarantee incorporated in England, and a registered charity. Company number 5559173. Charity number 1113288. European Union. The contents of this report are the sole responsibility Thisof The report Equal has Rights been Trust prepared and thewith Belarusian the financial Helsinki assistance Committee of the and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union. We are punished with being late Having uttered the pledge of love too soon Having trusted the wrong people Half an hour to Spring Half an Hour to Spring Pesniary (A popular Soviet time Belarusian rock band) Half an Hour to Spring TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ACRONYMS NOTE ON SPELLING EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Purpose and Structure of This Report 1.2 Conceptual Framework and Research Methodology 1.3 Country Context 1.4 Government and Politics 2. PATTERNS OF INEQUALITY 2.1 Inequality on the Grounds of Religion, Ethnicity and Language 2.1.1 Religion or Belief 2.1.2 National (Ethnic) Minorities 2.1.3 Manifestations of Inequality Based on Use of the Belarusian Language 2.2 Inequality on the Grounds of Gender, Disability and Sexual Orientation 2.2.1 The Problem of Gender Inequality (Women) 2.2.2 Persons with Disabilities and People living with HIV 2.2.3 The LGBT Community 2.3 Inequality on the Basis of Political Opinion 2.4 The Role of Poverty and Citizenship e Half an Hour to Spring 3. LEGISLATION, STATE POLICIES AND JUDICIAL PRACTICE RELATED TO EQUALITY AND NON-DISCRIMINATION 3.1 International Legal Obligations 3.2 National Law 3.2.1 The Constitution 3.2.2 Equality and Non-discrimination Provisions in National Legislation 3.3 State Policies 3.4 Judicial Practice 4. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 4.1 Conclusion 4.2 Recommendations BIBLIOGRAPHY f Executive Summary EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Is Belarus the last dictatorship in Europe or a state for the people and a model - nation and inequality in Belarus – reveals a complex picture. The repressive of tolerance? This report – the first ever comprehensive portrayal of discrimi - guagenature andof the political Belarusian opinion, regime against is well-known. those associated Accordingly, with heterodoxthis report views finds significant evidence of discrimination on grounds of religion, ethnicity, lan at accelerating progress towards equality for women, disabled persons, and otherof the groupscountry’s traditionally future. Yet exposedit also finds to discrimination. evidence of a range Thus, of the policies report aimed chal- lenges some of the well-rehearsed stereotypes about today’s Belarus, while also asking how far it is possible to achieve equality in a country where re- spect for fundamental rights is limited. Article 22 of the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus of 1994 proclaims equality of all before the law and the right of everyone to equal protection of their rights and legitimate interests without any discrimination. However, the country must overcome a number of barriers if it is to become an equitable society free from discrimination. 1. Introduction Purpose and Structure of This Report The purpose of this report is to describe the main patterns, forms and causes of inequality and discrimination in modern Belarusian society through analy- sis of legislation and administrative and judicial practice, and to formulate rec- ommendations to the Belarusian authorities. The report consists of four parts. Part 1 sets out the conceptual framework which has guided the authors’ work as well as the research methodology and provides basic facts about Belarus. The second part considers the situation of disadvantaged religious, ethnic and language groups through the prism of equality and non-discrimination, as well as groups whose inequality problems are largely the result of traditionalist attitudes in Belarusian society (women, persons with disabilities and people living with HIV, as well as members of the LGBT community). Special atten- tion is given to people who hold, or are perceived as holding, political opinions opposing the regime. The third part of the report provides an overview of the I Half an Hour to Spring and non-discrimination at the level of the UN, the OSCE and the Commonwealth ofinternational Independent legal States obligations (CIS), and of theconsiders Republic Belarusian of Belarus national in the field laws of and equality state policies, as well as judicial practice in this area. Conceptual Framework and Research Methodology The conceptual framework of this report is the unified human rights frame- work on equality, which emphasises the integral role of equality in access to all human rights and which aims to overcome fragmentation in legislation theand different policy in strands the field of equalityof equality. and The the differentunified human types of rights disadvantage, framework seeks on moreequality effective is a holistic implementation approach which, of the while right keeping to equality in view through the specificities highlighting of also the overarching aspects of these different strands and types. This con- ceptual framework allows review and comparison of inequality on different grounds (for example, ethnicity, language, gender, gender identity, disability, sexual orientation, religious belief or political opinion), and in a variety of participation and access to goods and services. fields, such as law enforcement, employment, education, social and political of Principles on Equality. This document was developed and issued by The EqualThe unified Rights human Trust rightsin 2008, approach following to equalityconsultation is reflected with 128 in the experts Declaration in the the world. field of human rights and equality from 47 countries in different regions of This report was prepared on the basis of research into Belarusian legislation and its implementation, combined with historical, political and social re- - sian human rights activists. To date, the issues which are the focus of this re- portsearch, have review not been of official the subject statistics of detailed and the studyresults by of domestic field research or international by Belaru academics, inter-governmental organisations, human rights organisations, or the Belarusian state authorities. Therefore, together with a review of existing publications and materials, the authors have taken steps to collect primary withdata throughthe guidance a survey of The and Equal
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