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TITLE: BELARUS HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES, 1993
DATE: JANUARY 31, 1994
AUTHOR: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
BELARUS
Belarus, which declared independence from the Soviet Union in
1991, has yet to hold elections or to approve a new
constitution. Belarus' form of government continues to
parallel closely that of the former Soviet Union. The Supreme
Soviet, the legislative branch, is technically the highest
ruling body of the country; its chairman, Stanislav
Shushkevich, is considered Head of State. Most power, however,
continues to remain in the hands of the Council of Ministers,
headed by Prime Minister Vyacheslav Kebich. The Council is the
executive branch of government, and its decrees have the force
of law. It is still dominated by ex-Communist party members,
as is the Supreme Soviet. The nationalist Belarusian Popular
Front (BNF), the principal opposition group, holds less than 10
percent of the seats in Parliament. Political parties as such
have yet to develop as a political force in Belarus.
Shushkevich is supported by the democratic opposition,
including the opposition Popular Front, in addition to many
deputies in the mainstream. Shushkevich's major source of
support is his personal popularity among the Belarusian
people. Kebich has the support of the "Belarus" faction in
Parliament.
The Belarusian Committee for State Security (KGB), while
legally under parliamentary supervision, in practice reports to
the Council of Ministers as well as to the Supreme Soviet.
Attempts in Parliament in 1993 to restore exclusive Council of
Ministers' control over the KGB were not successful. Opponents
of the Government reported no overt harassment from security
services in 1993. Electronic monitoring of residences and
telephones, however, reportedly continued. There were no
reported human rights violations on the part of the military
with the exception of hazing, which reportedly continues much
the way it was practiced in the former Soviet Union.
Belarus' economy is in decline. Many factories cut workweeks
back to 4 days or less and continued the policy of giving
workers mandatory unpaid vacations. The Government continued
to pursue cautious reform of the state-owned sector with the
stated aim of developing a "socially oriented market economy."
Parliament passed additional privatization laws, but the
executive branch was slow to implement privatization plans.
Respect for human rights was mixed. Progress continued in some
areas but flagged in others. Although little progress was made
on political reform, the Government did not attempt to suppress
political activity. Freedom of the press was restricted
through the Government's virtual monopoly over forms of mass
communication and its desire to limit media criticism of its
actions. It controlled the editorial content and policy of the
largest circulation daily newspapers and of radio and
television broadcasts. The Government did honor a longstanding
request from the opposition for television air time. In a
marked contrast to the Soviet era, freedom of religion is
generally observed, although bureaucratic impediments remain.
A government dispute with the Roman Catholic Church over its
status in Belarus (and the status of Polish priests) eased
somewhat. The Government, however, still has not recognized
Archbishop Svyontek, a Belarusian of Polish origin, as the head
of the Catholic Church in Belarus. Svyontek had been charged
in the past by the Government as being an agent of Polish
agitation, particularly in Western Belarus where Polish
influence is strong.
RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
Section 1 Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including
Freedom from:
a. Political and Other Extrajuridical Killing.
Such killings are not known to have occurred.
b. Disappearance
There were no reports of abductions, disappearances, or secret
arrests.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment
The current Soviet-era Constitution provides for the
inviolability of the person but contains no explicit ban on
torture and other degrading forms of punishment. Police
beatings were reported in detention centers and prisons.
Credible sources report that the police severely beat up
Gennadiy Shpak on March 19, 1993, when they detained him. The
use of force is officially sanctioned in some instances. For
example, it may be employed on prisoners found harming or
threatening to harm other prisoners or prison personnel. The
Government claims to monitor and keep statistics on the use of
force by prison guards. Prison authorities are required to
report each such use of force by prison guards to the
Prosecutor General's office. A medical evaluation of the
prisoner is also required when force has been used.
There were continued reports that prison conditions were
substandard and treatment degrading. Inhumane prison
conditions were reported in Grodno, Minsk, and Orsha. Amnesty
International observers were officially denied access to the
Grodno prison in March. The Government's justification was
that the visit would provoke chaos and riots in the prison. A
vice minister of internal affairs stated publicly that a radio
broadcast about the prison had at the time created "a very
complicated situation" in the prison. He suggested that the
delegation visit "any other prison but Grodno."
Government officials claim that lack of space remains the chief
obstacle to improving prison conditions: the rising crime rate
means more prisoners, and this fact, coupled with a decaying
physical plant and local neighborhood movements opposed to the
construction of new prisons, results in overcrowded prisons.
d. Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile
Criminal procedures remain essentially unchanged from those in
the former Soviet Union. Persons may be detained arbitrarily
and without an arrest warrant. The Criminal Code requires that
detainees be charged or arrested within 72 hours. Once
arrested and charged, defendants often spend many months
awaiting trial. At the request of the state prosecutor, a
detainee may be kept in pretrial detention for up to 3 months.
This period may be extended at the request of either the
regional or the state prosecutor for up to a maximum period of
1 1/2 years. Detainees may be allowed unlimited visits from
their legal counsel. However, there were reports that some
detainees had difficulty in gaining access to a lawyer. There
is no provision for bail, and detainees may not correspond or
receive family visitors without the express permission of the
state prosecutor.
Ministry of Internal Affairs' special forces staged a
large-scale raid on February 5 on the hotel Agat on the
outskirts of Minsk, allegedly looking for persons involved in
narcotics dealing and other illicit activity. Witnesses
indicated that occupants (including some foreigners) were
arbitrarily beaten and detained.
Exile is not practiced.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial
The court system, retaining much of the Soviet structure, has
three tiers: district, city or oblast (province), and
republic. Higher courts serve as appellate courts, but many
also hear trials in the first instance.
Trials are generally public, although they may be closed on
grounds of national security. In practice, however, attendance
at open trials may be arbitrarily restricted. Defendants have
the right to attend proceedings, confront witnesses, and
present evidence on their behalf. The court appoints an
attorney for defendants who do not have one. Some defendants
reportedly had difficulty in gaining access to lawyers and
court materials. Sergey Golubev, arrested for stealing, was
denied access to an attorney by an investigator in the
Pervomaiskiy region of Minsk. Although technically the burden
of proof is on the prosecutor, as a practical matter the
presumption of innocence is not always strictly observed.
There were no reports of political prisoners in 1993.
f. Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence
Electronic monitoring of residences and telephones continues.
A law, revised in 1992, gives the KGB, the Ministry of Internal
Affairs, and certain border guard detachments the right to
request permission to install wiretaps. Permission of a
prosecutor is legally required before a wiretap may be
installed. Except in cases of pursuit, a search warrant,
issued by the prosecutor, is needed in order to enter a private
home.
Section 2 Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press
Freedom of the press is provided for by existing legislation
but is not yet fully observed in practice.
The executive branch of the Government continued to use laws on
slander to clamp down on criticism of government officials.
According to the Belarusian League of Human Rights, government
officials sued Supreme Soviet deputies Evgeniy Novikov, Pavel
Kholod, and Alexandr Shut for their public criticism of the
Government.
The chairman of the regional council of the Logoisk region,
Aleksander Kresik, sued Kholod and Shut for a newspaper article
they published in Narodnaya Gazeta in March 1992 criticizing
Kresik for corruption in his dealings with local government
property. Kholod and Shut claimed that Kresik sold school
buildings to his friends at prices well below market value.
The suit was brought in December 1992 and, despite numerous
hearings in 1993, remained unresolved at year's end. Both
opposition party members, Kholod and Shut stated that they feel
there has been a concentrated effort on the part of the
Government to single out opposition deputies for such suits.
They assert only opposition deputies have been objects of such
legal action.
Novikov was sued by a state enterprise (Belgosstrakh) for his
disclosures of corruption at this company. Novikov was fined
in 1992. He was subsequently sued in 1993 by the same Judge
Gorodnicheva who presided over his trial in a personal suit for
a political statement he made that called into question the
court's decision in the earlier case. This case was also
unresolved at year's end.
A deputy of the Borisov city soviet, Sergey Kolesnik, was
reportedly fined by the courts for criticism of local executive
branch officials. He was sued by deputy Borisov city
administrator Galina Kuchuk in 1993 for his appeal alleging
irregularities in the privatization process in Borisov. The
suit was eventually dropped. Subsequently Kolesnik and a group
of other city-level deputies were sued for a public appeal they
made in September to Supreme Soviet Chairman Shushkevich about
corruption in housing in the Borisov city region. The Chairman
of the City Executive Council, Stanislav Shidlovskiy, filed
suit in March, demanding a public apology and 10 million
rubles. The court ruled that the deputies must apologize but
dropped the monetary part of the suit.
The law on the status of people's deputies grants them immunity
from criminal prosecution but does not protect them from
prosecution under the Civil Code, of which the slander laws,
particularly the "Law on Honor and Dignity," are a part. The
writer Svetlana Aleksievich was sued under these statutes (with
reported backing from high-ranking military officials) by a
group of mothers who lost sons in Afghanistan for her book on
the Soviet-Afghan war. Aleksievich wrote about atrocities
committed by Soviet soldiers during the war. There were
actually two suits which were tried concurrently--one brought
by the mothers and one brought by an Afghan war veteran. The
court dismissed the first suit in December. In the second
suit, the court ruled that Aleksievich must publish an apology
in the newspaper (Komsomolskaya Pravda) which originally
published excerpts of her book.
High-ranking officials also sued the Belarusian correspondent
of the Russian newspaper Kommersant, Alexandr Starikevich. A
court sentenced him in absentia to 15 days in prison for
failing to appear in court in March. The court apparently
ignored Starikevich's written appeal, reportedly submitted
according to proper procedures, to postpone proceedings by
4 days. As a consequence, Starikevich spent much of the year
in Russia and was forced to hide from Belarusian authorities
while in Minsk. Police reportedly made repeated and harassing
visits to his home in Minsk.
The Government retains a near monopoly on the forms of mass
communication. It remained the owner and chief financial
backer of nine major publications. There are approximately 30
newspapers in Belarus completely independent of government
control. Most, however, are small and poorly funded. Of the
six major daily newspapers, all are at least partially
government controlled. The Council of Ministers' information
division continued to exercise direct control over them, for
example, by discussing editorial content and policy in meetings
with government-sponsored newspaper editors. In one instance,
the Parliament-sponsored newspaper Narodnaya Gazeta was
reportedly threatened with loss of its lease in a government
building for refusing orders to print an interview given by
Prime Minister Kebich. All national and most local papers were
told to publish the article. Draft legislation to reduce the
degree of government control over the press failed to win the
approval of the Supreme Soviet. A group of independent
journalists, in an open letter to Prime Minister Kebich,
claimed they were often not informed of Council of Ministers
press conferences, while journalists more sympathetic to the
Government were always invited and given information not
provided to independent journalists. The Belarusian
legislature has given preliminary attention to a draft law on
the press, which incorporates to a significant degree parts of
the opposition's original draft law. The draft law has been
passed in the first reading, but it still requires a second
reading before it becomes law.
The State owns all radio and television stations, with the
exception of a few cable stations that generally do not air
news programs and are dependent on government-owned
facilities. Radio and television generally avoid criticism of
the Government and its leadership. The "Nika" news program,
which sometimes aired the views of government critics, had its
management changed in 1992; the program took a considerably
softer line toward the Government in 1993. Minsk's most
popular nonstate cable television station, Channel 8, was
closed by the Government over a registration dispute in
January. The Government delayed the reopening of the station
for most of 1993. On December 20, the Ministry of
Communications allowed the station to begin rebroadcasting "on
a trial basis." Broadcasts were scheduled to last until
mid-January 1994 when a reevaluation of the station was
scheduled to occur. Other local radio and television stations
also were closed. Belarusians continued to receive television
and radio broadcasts from the Russian Federation, including the
television station Ostankino from Moscow, and can receive
British Broadcasting Corporation news once a day over state
facilities. In September the State Television-Radio Company of
Belarus granted the opposition BNF a longstanding request for
air time. The BNF received about an hour of television air
time with no conditions attached. BNF leaders regularly are
interviewed on Belarusian radio and somewhat more sporadically
on Belarusian television. A partially American-owned religious
radio station began FM broadcasts in cooperation with a
Belarusian partner in 1993.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association
Demonstrations are still governed by the Soviet law on
demonstrations. Application to local officials is required
10 days in advance. Public demonstrations occurred
frequently. Both the BNF and the pro-Communist opposition
often use Minsk's independence square to demonstrate their
disagreements with the Government, despite a city government
ban on demonstrations in that square due, allegedly, to the
completion of a renewal project. Political parties--including
the Communist Party--are allowed to function freely in Belarus,
as are ethnic and professional organizations. The ban on the
Communist Party was lifted in February. In May the Communist
Party of Belarus (KPB) merged with the Party of Communists of
Belarus (PKB) and adopted the latter name.
The Supreme Soviet instituted a ban on political activity in
the military, including membership by military personnel in
political parties. The chairman of the Belarusian Military
Association (BZV), Nikolay Statkevich, was dishonorably
discharged from the armed forces for failing to resign from the
organization he helped found. The BZV is a "nonpolitical
patriotic military organization" which attempts to instill
Belarusian soldiers and officers with a sense of pride in
Belarusian history, language, and culture. Statkevich's
supporters said that he was dismissed for his nationalist
political views. Statkevich argued that his organization is
not a political but a social and professional one.
c. Freedom of Religion
Freedom of religion is generally respected. A 1992 law on
freedom of religious beliefs and organizations provides broad
guarantees for freedom of religion. Religious organizations
are allowed to engage in cultural, educational, and charitable
activities. However, there is still some bureaucratic
resistance to religion in general and toward the major churches
and the Jewish community in particular.
The majority of Belarusians are Eastern Orthodox Christians.
The Orthodox Church remains formally linked to the Russian
Orthodox Church and recognizes the primacy of the Moscow
Patriarch. Some Belarusian nationalists have criticized the
Church for being too closely tied to Moscow and not doing
enough to serve the national interests of Belarus.
The Roman Catholic Church in Belarus claims some 1.5 million
members, roughly 15 percent of the population. Relations
between the Catholic Church and the Government remain strained
because of the historical association of the Church with
Poland, which ruled the western part of Belarus as recently as
1939. The Government still has not officially recognized
Archbishop Kazimir Svyontek, a Belarusian of Polish origin, as
the head of the Catholic Church in Belarus. In May, however,
the Government received the first Papal Nuncio to Belarus.
Belarus' one Catholic seminary, in Grodno, has not been able to
meet the increasing demand for priests. As a consequence, over
90 Polish priests were brought in and are working in Belarus.
The Government continues to return churches previously
confiscated by the Soviet government to the Orthodox and Roman
Catholic Churches. This slow process, marked by numerous
property disputes between the Churches and the State and
between the two Churches, continues. Organizations that occupy
what once was church property are also involved. A sit-in by
congregation members in a Minsk Catholic church that had become
a chamber music concert hall failed to resolve the ownership
dispute.
In addition to the Catholic and Orthodox Churches, 16 other
religious organizations and sects freely function in Belarus.
Visits of missionaries from many countries are frequent, and
religious work is generally unimpeded. During 1993, however,
several government officials expressed their concern at the
growing number of foreign Christian missionaries in Belarus.
Some Belarusians interpreted frequent Protestant proselytizing
as harmful to Belarusian national interests. The Government
began to require all persons wishing to engage in religious
work in Belarus to present a formal invitation from a
Belarusian religious organization in order to receive visas.
Subsequently, two American Baptist missionaries waited for
3 months to receive extensions of their visas until they found
a registered Minsk church willing to sponsor their visit.
Despite occasional bureaucratic difficulties, religious rallies
were held without interference in conference halls and in
stadiums, and proselytizing also occurred. Bibles and other
religious materials are available for sale in the Belarusian,
Russian, and Polish languages.
The Jewish community retains concerns over several main
issues. The Jewish community is concerned, as are Christian
churches, with the return of previously confiscated buildings
and synagogues which have been turned into theaters,
warehouses, and meeting halls. Minsk continues to lack an
adequate building for a synagogue. Authorities promised to
return a former synagogue to the Jewish community in Mogilev by
the end of 1993. Another concern is the construction of a
group of apartment buildings on the old Jewish cemetery in
Pinsk. Following international protest, government authorities
ordered local officials to cease construction at the site.
Major construction was reportedly terminated, although certain
underground construction for plumbing, electricity, and other
facilities continued on the buildings already erected.
Government officials, national and local, held a commemoration
on October 20 of the 50th anniversary of the destruction of the
Minsk Jewish ghetto.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign
Travel, Emigration, and Repatriation
Soviet procedures remained in effect, at least on paper, for
many aspects of freedom of movement.
Belarusian citizens were generally free to travel within the
country. However, all adults are still issued internal
passports, which serve as primary identity documents and are
required for travel, permanent housing, and hotel registration.
The right to choose one's place of residence, although
guaranteed by law, remains restricted in practice. Despite its
formal abolition by the Soviet government in October 1991, the
"propiska" (pass) system survives in Belarus. All Belarusians
are officially required to register their places of residence
and may not change them without official permission. The
authorities limit the number of residence permits in Minsk and
the five regional centers of Brest, Grodno, Mogilev, Vitebsk,
and Gomel. However, according to government officials and
other reliable sources, official permission was increasingly
granted or denied to persons seeking to change their place of
residence according to the availability of housing, with fewer
denials than previously.
The Supreme Soviet approved the Interior Ministry's law on
entry and exit in June. The law was to come into effect on
January 1, 1994, and supersedes the 1991 Soviet law on entry
and exit in force in Belarus during 1993. The new law
abolishes the former Soviet requirement of mandatory official
permission for each trip abroad by authorizing Belarusians to
receive "global" exit visas good for from 1 to 5 years and
valid for travel to all countries. Limited issuance of the
"global" exit visas began in August but is currently hampered
by a 1- to 2-month processing period. Belarusian passports are
being readied for printing. Some official passport holders,
i.e., government officials, are already using the new
passport. There are reports that the application process is
long, with delays of several months reported. There were no
reports of unjust or arbitrary refusals.
Emigration from Belarus continued to decline, with fewer people
applying to emigrate in 1993 than in 1992. Soviet legislation
restricting emigration by those with access to "state secrets"
remained in force. However, only one would-be emigrant was
refused an exit visa on grounds of possessing "state secrets,"
as compared to six in 1992, and this person was eventually
permitted to emigrate to Israel at the end of 1993. Belarusian
draft-age men who had not previously received permission to
travel abroad from the Belarusian military were also officially
restricted from traveling abroad. However, there were no cases
of would-be emigrants refused due to incomplete military
service in 1993.
Section 3 Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens
to Change Their Government
Political reform in Belarus stagnated in 1993, and the right of
citizens to change their government, although guaranteed by
law, remains to be tested in free elections. The current
Parliament was chosen for a 5-year term under Soviet election
rules in 1990. In theory, voting is secret, and suffrage is
universal for citizens 18 years of age and older. In 1992 the
BNF spearheaded a massive signature-gathering campaign in an
effort to force a referendum on holding new parliamentary
elections. The Supreme Soviet rejected the referendum,
alleging that both the initiating group and the election
commission had violated the referendum law. The opposition
continued to call for a referendum during 1993, arguing that
rejection of the referendum undermined the Government's claim
to legitimacy.
At the same time it rejected the proposed referendum, the
Supreme Soviet passed a nonbinding resolution calling for the
passage of a new constitution and the holding of new elections
in March 1994. The resolution, however, lacked the force of
law, and it is unclear whether elections will be held in 1994.
A draft of the new constitution is under review in the Supreme
Soviet. Foreign legal experts, reviewing the document, found
it significantly inadequate in numerous areas, most notably
that of citizens' civil and political rights.
There are no legal restrictions on the participation of women
in politics and government. Social barriers to women in
politics, however, remain fairly strong, and most top
leadership positions are held by men. There is one woman in a
ministerial-level position, and women hold less than 5 percent
of the seats in the Supreme Soviet. A number of women do,
however, hold posts at the vice ministerial level.
Section 4 Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations
of Human Rights
Human rights monitors reported bureaucratic obstacles and
posturing on the part of the Government when investigating
alleged human rights violations. The Belarusian League of
Human Rights, founded in 1992, reported that the courts refused
to review appeals from the League on the pretext of procedural
grounds. The League has close contacts with a variety of
international organizations involved in human rights.
Amnesty International visited Belarus in February. Except for
the denial of permission to visit Grodno prison (see Section
1.c.), international organizations were not hindered in making
visits to Belarus.
Section 5 Discrimination Based on Race, Sex, Religion,
Disability, Language, or Social Status
The law on citizenship, passed by the Supreme Soviet, grants
citizenship to any person living permanently on the territory
of Belarus as of October 19, 1991. Those coming to Belarus
after this date and wishing to become a citizen must submit an
application, know the Belarusian language ("enough for
communication"), agree to support the Constitution and laws,
have a legal source of income, and have lived in the country
for 7 years. (The 7-year residence requirement is waived for
those who were previously citizens of the Byelorussian Soviet
Socialist Republic and for those who are currently in the armed
forces, who wish to become citizens, and who are prepared to
take the oath of allegiance to Belarus.)
Women
Statistics are not available on the incidence of violence
against women. Some fledgling women's rights organizations are
attempting to increase awareness of women's issues in the
country. Domestic violence against women, often alcohol
related, continues to be a significant problem in Belarus.
Knowledgeable sources indicate that police generally are not
hesitant to enforce laws against violence. Likewise, the
courts are not against imposing sentences. The problem,
according to women's groups, is a reluctance to report
incidents of domestic violence. In addition to the regular
court system, there are "communal courts" in which women can
use pressure from friends, neighbors, and coworkers to help
rectify such situations. Certain women activists have pointed
to the existence of discrimination in Belarusian legislation.
One government decree on the privatization of housing, for
example, is disadvantageous to women in terms of the amount of
square footage available to them.
Children
Belarus ratified the international Convention on the Rights of
the Child in 1993. Special benefits to families with children
are considered substantial by local standards. Children's
health--particularly as related to the consequences of the
nuclear accident at Chernobyl--has been a concern of the
Government which, with the help of foreign donors, has received
significant funding.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities
Belarusians account for about 78 percent of the population of
over 10 million; 13 percent are Russians, 4 percent Poles, 3
percent Ukrainians, and there are Lithuanians and Jews among
the remaining 2 percent. The Belarusian language was made the
official language, but Russian remains the predominant working
language, with most of the population speaking Russian at
home. The introduction of Belarusian as the mandatory language
of instruction in schools is being phased in gradually. A
movement is under way to make Russian the second official
language. The Supreme Soviet adopted a law on national
minorities in late 1992 which, in addition to forbidding
discrimination, expressly prohibits officially asking, in
written or oral form, about a person's nationality.
People with Disabilities
Facilities in Belarus, including transport and office
buildings, often are not accessible to the disabled. A law
mandating accessibility to transport, residences, businesses,
and offices for the disabled came into force in late 1992. A
multiagency government council is to oversee the implementation
of these provisions. The Committee was only recently
established and has only started its activities. In addition,
the law provides various social and material benefits for the
handicapped. One advocacy group claimed that the law is not
being enforced, although other groups say it is still too soon
to tell how effective the law will be.
Section 6 Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association
The independent trade union movement is still in its infancy.
Although several independent trade unions exist, the former
Belarusian branch of the U.S.S.R's All-Union Central Council of
Trade Unions--currently the Federation of Trade Unions of
Belarus (FTUB)--is by far the largest trade union
organization. This so-called trade union of 5 million members
is not considered independent in practice since it often
follows government orders.
The 1992 law on trade unions provides that workers have the
right to form and join independent unions on a voluntary basis
and to carry out actions in defense of workers' rights,
including the right to strike. In practice, workers are often
automatically inducted into the government-affiliated FTUB.
Independent labor leaders believe that the official trade
unions' control over social functions (such as pension funds),
usually performed by the State, is an obstacle to the growth of
true, independent trade unions. The independent trade unions
include the Free Trade Union of Belarus (with about 10,000
members), the Independent Miners' Union (about 6,000 members),
the Confederation of Labor (3,000), and the Union of Air
Traffic Controllers. In September the Free Trade Union of
Belarus and the Independent Miners' Union created the Congress
of Free Trade Unions of Belarus, an organization that intends
to coordinate the actions of the two largest independent trade
unions.
No major strikes occurred during 1993. A threatened walk-out
in June by the FTUB at a factory that produces specialized
automated production equipment (assembly lines) by special
order was averted when the Government acceded to the union's
demands.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively
Legislation dating from the Soviet period provides for the
right to organize and bargain collectively. Since the economy
is still largely in the hands of the State, unions usually seek
redress at the political level.
The right to organize and bargain collectively was reportedly
violated when Evgeniy Vozhik, a worker at the Minsk enterprise
Elektronika and a FTUB council member, was fired under the
guise of enterprise layoffs. According to union activists,
Vladimir Oichlik of the Ordzhenikidze factory was also
dismissed for union-related activity under a similar pretext.
Mikhail Ustinovich was reportedly badly beaten on the shop
floor of the Bobruysk tire factory for trade union-related
activism. The Belarusian law on trade unions (1992) prohibits
discrimination for trade union activity. The Labor Code
includes provisions for reinstatement of an employee (through
arbitration and then court action) should it be determined that
the firing was for union-related activity.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor
While there is no explicit prohibition of forced or compulsory
labor, it is not known to occur.
d. Minimum Age for Employment of Children
Current labor law establishes 16 years of age as the statutory
minimum age for employment of children. In certain cases, such
as the death of a family's chief wage earner, a 15-year-old may
seek special permission to assume full-time employment.
Reportedly, the Procurator General's office enforces this law
effectively.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work
The Supreme Soviet sets a minimum wage, periodically raised in
response to inflation, which is effectively enforced. The
minimum monthly wage is approximately $6 (30,000 Belarusian
rubles). With inflation rising rapidly, the minimum wage is
considered too low to provide a decent standard of living.
The Labor Code sets a limit of 41 hours per week and provides
for at least one 24-hour rest period per week. Because of the
difficult economic situation, an increasing number of workers
find themselves working considerably less than 40 hours per
week. Often factories require workers to take unpaid
"vacations" due to shortages of raw materials and energy and
lack of demand for factory output.
The law establishes minimum conditions of workplace safety and
worker health; however, these standards are often ignored. No
central, effective enforcement mechanism exists. Factory
safety brigades report directly to plant management and are
thus widely considered ineffective. (###)
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