Belarus: Government removed COVID restriction on registration of legal entities
Removal of the last remaining pandemic restriction will facilitate the process of registering new CSOs.
Belarus: New legislation increases financial support for civic initiatives
Draft national budget for 2024 includes the provision of about 600,000 euros that local councils can distribute to civic initiatives.
Belarus: Government increases fees for organising assemblies
Organisers are required to sign contracts for thousands of euros for policing, medical and cleaning services, with no guarantee the permission for the assembly will be granted.
Belarus: A growing number of CSOs labelled as "extremist formations"
Authorities declared Viasna Human Rights Center as “extremist” and can prosecute anyone cooperating with the organisation.
Belarus launches campaign of forced liquidation of political parties
By the end of 2023, it's expected that only 4 out of the 16 existing parties will still operate in the country.
Belarus: Court hands down 7 years prison sentence for authoring human rights monitoring report
Systematic repression against human rights defenders and civil society continues.
Belarus: All forms of religious organisations may need to re-register
Draft law has been submitted for public discussion, with very short notice to receive comments.
Belarus: Draft amendments to laws on public associations and political parties published
New measures proposed in the bill would negatively affect public associations and significantly complicate conditions for opposition parties.
Belarus: Draft law “On Essentials of Civil Society” on Parliament’s agenda
The law would introduce special privileges for very few national-level public associations that have remained in Belarus.
Belarus: participatory budgeting to support local civil initiatives
Draft law introduces a new mechanism to better involve citizens in the process of deciding how public money is spent locally, but does not allow direct voting on which project to fund.
Belarus to establish a single charitable foundation under the patronage of the President
The new foundation is set to replace civil society organisations, which left the country or have been liquidated in the past 2 years.
Belarus: Government to conduct special risk assessment of the nonprofit sector
New risk assessment will probably not be part of the regular FATF cycle, civil society says.