We suggest you to join the campaign “STOP 193.1!” which is aimed at the abolition of the article 193.1 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus. This article establishes criminal responsibility for participation in the activities of an unregistered political party, civil or religious organization, and envisages two years of imprisonment for such activities.

Article 193.1 prevents normal development of civil society in Belarus, especially bearing in mind a very complicated procedure of registration of public associations and the biased approach of the State bodies to organizations which are independent from the authorities. In fact, Article 193.1 treats any independent initiative of citizens as a crime.

Article 193.1 violates citizens' right to association and it contradicts certain provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and other international documents signed by Belarus. Apart from that, article 193.1 does not correspond the standards regarding activities of non-governmental organizations, approved by the Council of Europe. This is one of the obstacles for the full accession of Belarus to the Council of Europe and for our return to the European scene.

Over the period 2006-2009 seventeen members of unregistered associations have been sentenced to imprisonment or fines under article 193.1. No case was solved in the courts in favour of the persons accused under article 193.1. Also hundreds of members of unregistered associations have been questioned by the State bodies, many of them had received warnings from prosecutors who demanded that they stopped their activities in unregistered organizations.

You and your organization can help us by sending to Belarusian governing institutions a paper in a form of declaration, calling to abolish Article 193-1 of the Criminal Code and to exclude the ban on the activities of unregistered public associations from all Belarusian acts of legislation.

Please send your declarations to the following address:
Parliament, the House of Representatives,
Republic of Belarus,
Minsk 220010,
vul. 11 Savieckaja, 11, House of Government.

You can also send your declaration to the following governing officials, who may influence the situation:

• President Alexander Lukashenka,
vul. Karl Marx, 38, 220016 Minsk, Belarus,
Fax: + 375 172 26 06 10 or + 375 172 22 38 72,
E-mail: [email protected]
• President’s Administration
Chairman of the President’s Administration, Mr.Uladzimir Makej,
vul K. Marx, 34, Minsk 220016, Belarus
Fax: + 375 17 226-06-10
• The General Prosecutor of Belarus Ryhor Vasilevich,
vul. Internacyjanalnaja, 22., Minsk 220050, Belarus
Fax: + 375 17 226 42 52
• The Minister of Justice of the Republic of Belarus, Mr. Victar Halavanau,
vul. Kalektarnaja, 10, Minsk 220004, Belarus
E-mail: [email protected]
• The Head of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Belarus, Mr. Valiancin Suchyla,
vul. Lenina, 28, Minsk 220030, Belarus
E-mail: [email protected]
• Permanent Mission of the Republic of Belarus to the United Nations in Geneva,
15 avenue de la paix, 1211 Geneva 20, Switzerland,
Fax: +41 22 748 24 51.
E-mail: [email protected]
• The Embassy of Belarus in Brussels,
192 avenue Molière, 100 Ixelles, Belgium,
Fax: + 32 2.340.02.87
E-mail: [email protected]

You may also help if you send a declaration to the government of your country (Ministry of Foreign Affairs), in order to inform them about the existence of discriminatory regulations in the legal acts concerning civil society in Belarus and to call upon your government to use diplomatic measures to impact on the Belarusian authorities.

Please inform us about your involvement in the issue, if there is any.

International support and response is extremely important in this situation, because the internal possibilities of influence in Belarus are extremely limited due to the undemocratic character of the political system.

Information:
In Belarus works a large number of unregistered organizations – about a few hundreds. These organizations deal with social issues, human rights, sports, charity work, with the protection of environment and with the protection of minorities. This situation is a result of a too complicated registration process of non-governmental organizations and of the current practice of illegal denials in registration. For example, the youth organization Young Front was denied in registration 3 times, the Human Rights Center "Viasna" - 3 times (including two denials in 2009!), Belarusian Christian Democracy - 3 times, the Assembly of NGOs - 2 times.