Belarus: The treatment of ethnic Poles, including the availability of state protection if they are harassed or discriminated against (January 1998 - July 1999)

A 9 September 1998 Belapan News Agency article states:

The leadership of the Union of Belarusian Poles [UBP] intends to picket the official celebration of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Adam Mickiewicz [Polish-Belarusian writer], which will be held in Navahrudak on 10-12 September. UBP chairman Tadeusz Hawin told Belapan that the reason for the picketing is the discrimination against Navahrudak's Poles, which has been going on for over a year already, "as we, Poles, cannot fulfil our right to teach our children in our native language."

According to Hawin, the authorities turned down the Poles' request to open a class with instruction in Polish despite the fact that the parents had not sent their children to school for 15 days in protest. "The same story repeated itself in Navahrudak this year, and this time the authorities put psychological pressure on the parents, resorting to harassment techniques which are familiar to us from the recent past," the chairman of the union said.

A 21 April 1999 Polish Radio 1 emission states:

The chairman of the Union of Poles in Belarus [UPB], Tadeusz Gawin, was sentenced today by a Belarusian court to a fine of 115m Belarusian roubles, that is 1,200 Polish zloties. Gawin has been accused of organizing an illegal picket and also of defaming three state officials.

Immediately after the hearing, Chairman Gawin told Polish Radio that he felt that he had been sentenced unfairly.

[Gawin] The court acknowledged that I had insulted the authorities and sentenced me to a fine of 115m roubles. That is as much as an average Belarusian earns over a period of a year. I feel that this is unjust verdict, since all our actions and protests concerned the fundamental issue of the development of Polish schools in Belarus. We are guaranteed this by the constitution and by the Belarusian-Polish treaty on good neighbourly relations and friendly cooperation. The verdict is injurious to me and I intend to appeal to a higher court.

A 6 May 1999 Belapan article states:

Despite statements by President Alyaksandr Lukashenka about the absence of ethnic problems in the country and harmony in relations between ethnic groups, the Belarusian Poles have such problems and no harmony in relations with the authorities, Tadeusz Gawin, chairman of the Union of Belarusian Poles (UBP), said at a news conference held in Minsk on 6th May.

Gawin said that there are more than 400,000 ethnic Poles in Belarus, the third largest national group in Belarus and the second largest in the Hrodna region. The country has no Polish-language schools built at the government's expense and only two Polish schools set up in Hrodna and Vawkavysk for money provided by the world's Polish diaspora. Gawin pointed out that there are only discriminatory optional courses for children who want to study in Polish. According to him, the authorities prevent Polish-language schools from being opened in Navahrudak and Voranava, bar the UBP from building a school in Navahrudak at the Union's own expense and refused to print school books in Polish. As Gawin said, Pavel Orlik, chief of the Education Department of the Voranava District Executive Committee, has recently been sacked for helping the Polish community resolve its problems and being the chairman of a UBP cell. Gawin accused the Belarusian authorities of flagrant violations of the Polish community's rights.

The UBP has recently boycotted the 3rd Belarusian Festival of National Cultures and staged several street protests, but the authorities have stepped up pressure on UBP branches, Gawin said. Police broke up a demonstration near the UBP headquarters in Hrodna on 17th April, and the Hrodna government has denied permission to stage demonstrations scheduled by the UBP for 10th, 11th, and 12 May, when the Parliamentary Assembly of the Belarusian-Russian Union was expected to hold a session in Hrodna. Gawin accuses the State Committee for Religious and Ethnic Affairs and the Ministry of Culture of attempting to split the Polish community. The UBP's effort to organize the teaching of children through the Coordinating Council for Affairs of National Communities of the Committee for Religious and Ethnic Affairs has also failed. The UBP threatens to leave the Coordinating Council unless it is given the opportunity to set up Polish-language classes, build a school in Navahrudak, and print school books in Polish.

A 30 June 1999 Belapan article states that "the UBP cannot accept the State Committee for the Press' policy of placing the union's publication, Hlos znad Nemna, under its control."

No additional information on the treatment of ethnic Poles in Belarus, nor on the availability of state protection available to them, could be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

References

Belapan [Minsk, in Belarusian]. 30 June 1999. "Belarusian Poles Complain of Discrimination." (FBIS-SOV-199-0701 30 June 1999/WNC)

_____. 6 May 1999. "Belarusian Poles's Rights 'Flagrantly Violated,' Says Leader." (BBC Monitoring 7 May 1999/WNC)

_____. 9 September 1998. "Belarus: Belarusian Poles Protest Language 'Discrimination'." (FBIS-SOV-98-253 10 Sept. 1998/WNC)

Polish Radio 1 [Warsaw, in Polish]. 21 April 1999. "Polish Leader in Belarus Sentenced over Education Rights Protests." (BBC Summary 24 Apr. 1999/NEXIS)

Additional Sources Consulted

Electronic sources: IRB databases, NEXIS/LEXIS, REFWORLD, WNC.

Internet sites, including:

http://www.catholic.net (Catholic Information Centre on Internet)

http:www.ihf-hr.org/reports (International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights Annual Report)

http://www.religious freedom.com (International Coalition for Religious Freedom)

Nationalities Papers [Abingdon, Oxfordshire, UK.]. March 1998 - March 1999.

Resource Centre country file on Belarus. January 1998 - June 1999.

Transitions [Prague]. May 1998 - March 1999.