Analytical report on migrant detainees presented in Belarus

In May-July 2014, a civil campaign “No People Are Illegal” with the support from the Human Rights Center “Viasna” monitored the level of openness and transparency of work with migrants on the part of government bodies and other organizations in charge.

The study also analyzed aspects of the situation of imprisoned migrants in the Republic of Belarus, the stages of working with foreign citizens and stateless persons held in Minsk’s detention center awaiting deportation/expulsion, and identified a number of drawbacks in the activities of these government agencies and organizations.

The study became the basis of an analytical report entitled “Aspects of migrants’ detention in Belarus”, which contains recommendations for government agencies, international organizations and representatives of relevant non-governmental organizations, the European Commission and the governments involved in cooperation with the Republic of Belarus.

“At present, the migration policy of Belarus has a range of problems that are ignored by state bodies and that stay little known to the general public. Attention of human rights activists was drawn to the facts of detention of foreign citizens for quite a long period of time,” sums up the report, referring to the main problematic aspects. These include limited access to information related to the status and condition of migrants detained according to norms of legislation on migration in the first place; poor conditions and long term of detention of migrants and keeping them together with other types of detainees; lack of transparency in procedures and restrictions in procedural rights; lack of transparency of activities of state bodies and specialized organizations (both local and international).

See full text of the report in the attachment.