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Belarus

Monthly Event Reports

March 2023 | Belarus expands capital punishment

On 9 March Belarus expanded the list of crimes that can be punished by the death penalty to include treason by public officials and members of the armed services. The law is similar to one passed by Russia shortly after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and may be intended to maintain order in official ranks in the event of direct Belarusian involvement in the war.

February 2023 | Nobel Prize winner Byalyatski sentenced to 12 years

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Byalyatski and his fellow human rights activists in the organization Viasna, Valyantsin Stefanovich, and Uladzimer Labkovich, were sentenced to 12, 11, and 9 years imprisonment, respectively. They were charged with and convicted of tax-evasion and smuggling by a court in Minsk. The decision has been part of a wave of convictions of human rights activists, journalists, and individual citizens in Belarus. The ruling was roundly condemned by the international community as groundless and politically motivated retribution for Viasna’s human rights work. A fourth activist, Zmitser Salauyou, was sentenced to 8 years in absentia.

January 2023 | New law allows rendering Belarusians stateless

President Alyaksandr Lukashenka signed a law allowing the government to strip any Belarusian of citizenship for poorly or undefined crimes such as “causing grave harm to the interests of the state” and other offenses. Rights watchdogs say the new law will be used to render critics abroad stateless and crack down on any effort to organize against the dictatorship.  

October 2022 | New decree gives KGB authority to monitor all online activity

A new presidential decree, which operationalizes a law passed in 2021, gives the Belarusian security and information services the authority to request any user data or metadata from internet resources and service providers. Legal experts say that the decree gives state security agencies unlimited control over the Belarusian internet.

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GSoD Indices Data 2013-2022

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Basic Information

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Population Tooltip
9 340 310
System of government
Presidential system
Head of government
President Alyaksandr Lukashenka (disputed since 2020)
Head of government party
Independent
Electoral system for lower or single chamber
First Past the Post
Women in lower or single chamber
40.0%
Women in upper chamber
25.0%
Last legislative election
2019
Head of state
President Alyaksandr Lukashenka (disputed since 2020)
Selection process for head of state
Direct election (two-round majority)
Latest Universal Periodic Review (UPR) date
02/11/2020
Latest Universal Periodic Review (UPR) percentage of recommendations supported
51.50%
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Human Rights Treaties

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State Party State party
Signatory Signatory
No Action No action
United Nations Human Right Treaties
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
State Party
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
State Party
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
State Party
Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women
State Party
Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment
State Party
Convention on the Rights of the Child
State Party
International Convention on Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families
No Action
International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance 
No Action
International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
State Party
International Labour Organisation Treaties
Forced Labour Convention
State Party
Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention
State Party
Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention
State Party
Equal Remuneration Convention
State Party
Abolition of Forced Labour Convention
State Party
Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention
State Party
Convention concerning Minimum Age for Admission to Employment
State Party
Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention
State Party
in
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Categories of Democratic Performance

Representation neutral Representation
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Representation neutral Rights
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Representation neutral Rule of law
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Representation neutral Participation
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Global State of Democracy Indices

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Representation
Representation
0
/1
high 0.7-1.0
mid 0.4-0.7
low 0.0-0.4
Rights
Rights
0
/1
high 0.7-1.0
mid 0.4-0.7
low 0.0-0.4
Rule of Law
Rule of Law
0
/1
high 0.7-1.0
mid 0.4-0.7
low 0.0-0.4
Participation
Participation
0
/1
high 0.7-1.0
mid 0.4-0.7
low 0.0-0.4
Annual value

Factors of Democratic Performance Over Time

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