BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

23/05/2007

US Dept of State report: Belarus and Moldova - State discrimination against national minorities 22. 5. 2007

There was governmental and societal discrimination against the ethnic Polish population and Roma. There were also expressions of societal hostility toward proponents of Belarusian national culture. During the year authorities repeatedly questioned the chairman of the unrecognized UBP, Anzhelika Borys, and her associates regarding their activities (see section 2.d.). On August 16, police summoned UBP activist and journalist Andrzej Poczobut for questioning, allegedly about a crime he witnessed. However, all of the questions focused on the sources of funding for his magazine and a previous fine. In August Poczobut was sentenced to 10 days in jail after a local television company complained that he obstructed the work of a cameraman trying to film a wreath laying. On September 25, police also summoned former UBP chairman Tadeusz Gavin for questioning.

On February 25, Minsk police detained Andrey Borys and two other UBP activists for three hours as they tried to attend a concert at the Sukno Palace of Culture. According to one UBP activist, police grabbed Borys, punched him in the face, put a pistol to his head, and dragged him from his vehicle. The police later claimed they had an anonymous tip that Borys was carrying weapons. No arms were found in the vehicle, but police confiscated 58 copies of the UBP publication Glos znad Niomna and charged all three activists with distributing printed material without required information about its origin.

On December 13, authorities sentenced "Magazyn Polski" Polish magazine layout editor Aleksey Saley to seven days in jail on charges of petty hooliganism and disobeying police officers after being arrested. Saley left his office on December 12 when several plainclothes police officers arrested him and forced him into a vehicle.

There was significant official and societal discrimination against the country's approximately 40,000 to 60,000 Roma.

Government media and officials portrayed Roma negatively. On January 14, the prosecutor rejected complaints by the Romani community about a documentary film shown on state television in 2005 that portrayed Roma as criminals who began selling drugs in childhood. Nikolay Kalinin, the head of the Roma community and a human rights activist, stated that the program, Gypsies Go to Jail, contained "exclusively negative information" that portrayed fellow Roma as criminals. The prosecutor, however, stated that the documentary did not contain any discrimination or insults directed at the Romani community.

On April 3, a group of six unidentified men assaulted and beat Kalinin in downtown Minsk. The assailants told Kalinin the beating was to defend the honor of a woman whom Kalinin had allegedly insulted. Kalinin claimed that he had never seen the woman and linked the attack to his human rights work and involvement in monitoring the March presidential election.

There was high unemployment and low levels of education within the Romani community. In November 2005 authorities estimated the unemployment rate among Roma at 93 percent. Romani children, who spoke mainly Roma and Belarusian, struggled in the school system where the primary language of instruction was Russian. Romani students reported that teachers and fellow students often considered them lazy or mentally incompetent due to language-related academic difficulties.

During the year the Romani Lawyers Group continued to petition the government to permit establishment of a public school in Minsk for Roma, arguing that there were schools for Jews, Lithuanians, and Poles. The government has yet to respond to the petition, which was first submitted in September 2004. Roma were often denied access to free, higher education in state-run universities.

The Russian and Belarusian languages have equal legal status; however, in practice Russian was the primary language used by the government. Few official functions and publications were in Belarusian. As of September 1, the Ministry of Education ordered all course instruction in grades 10 and 11 at Russian language schools to be in Russian. Previously both Russian and Belarusian language schools taught national history, geography, and Belarusian language and literature in Belarusian. The Belarusian Language Society protested the decision. The ministry later agreed to allow individual schools to decide on the language of instruction. However, both Russian and Belarusian schools received new textbooks about Belarusian history and geography for 10th and 11th grade in Russian.

On November 29, Viktoriya Dashkevich, head of a puppet theater in the northern city of Vitebsk, reported that the neo-Nazi, Russian National Unity group (RNU) sent her a letter demanding that the theater stop staging Belarusian-language plays and translate all plays into Russian because Belarus will soon become a part of Russia. Dashkevich filed a complaint with law-enforcement agencies over the letter, but the authorities refused to open a criminal investigation.

Ultranationalist skinhead groups made up of ethnic Russians harassed and vandalized property belonging to persons promoting Belarusian national culture. On April 3, unknown persons affixed fliers and signs with emblems of Russia's ultra?left National Bolshevik Party at the entrance to the Frantsisk Skaryna Belarusian Language Society headquarters. In June the leader of the Vitebsk chapter of the UCP received a threatening letter from the RNU telling her to abandon her opposition activities or face unspecified retribution from the RNU. On August 16, opposition BPF members discovered fake explosives planted near their office that were decorated with the RNU emblem, which resembles a swastika, and packed with RNU leaflets. The RNU denied planting the fake explosives. Also in August the independent newspaper Vitebskiy Kuryer received a letter from RNU leaders with threats to drive the paper out of business.

(International Debate Education Association)

Source:

http://www.dzeno.cz/?c_id=14381