Forced Labor and Pervasive Violations of Workers’ Rights in Belarus

The gross, systematic, and widespread violations of political and civil rights in Belarus have been the subject of numerous reports prepared by both international and Belarusian observers. Meanwhile, President Lukashenko and government officials in general are using any forum they can to stress that Belarus is a model of social and economic rights by contrasting the robust guarantees its residents receive with the situation of residents in neighboring countries who suffered a number of economic upheavals following the fall of the Soviet Union. The government uses this phenomenon of the “last remaining socialist paradise” in the region to frighten citizens with a scenario of turbulence in the event of a change in Belarus’s political course. Experts believe that this is one of the reasons how Lukashenko’s regime has managed to remain so stable. (The FIDH and Human Rights Center Viasna Mission, fragment)