Belarus Issues - 2022

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 

Disputes - international

Belarus-Latvia: Boundary demarcated with Latvia.

Belarus-Lithuania: Boundary demarcated with Lithuania.

Belarus-Poland: As a member state that forms part of the EU's external border, Poland has implemented strict Schengen border rules to restrict illegal immigration and trade along its border with Belarus.

Refugees and internally displaced persons

refugees (country of origin): 17,260 (Ukraine) (as of 6 December 2022)

stateless persons: 6,104 (mid-year 2021)

Trafficking in persons

current situation: human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims and exploit Belarusians abroad; the majority of trafficking victims are men subjected to forced labor; most Belarusian victims are trafficked in Belarus and Russia, but also in Poland, Turkey, and other Eurasian and Middle Eastern countries; the government continued to subject factory workers, civil servants, and students to state-sponsored forced labor harvesting crops on state-owned farms or cleaning streets

tier rating: Tier 3 — Belarus does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking because of a government policy or pattern of government-sponsored forced labor in public works projects and the agricultural sector; however, authorities convicted traffickers under its trafficking statute for the first time in eight years, increased training for law enforcement officers, and confirmed significantly more victims; the government adopted a national action plan to protect minors from sexual violence and exploitation (2020)

Illicit drugs

limited cultivation of opium poppy and cannabis, mostly for the domestic market; transshipment point for illicit drugs to and via Russia, and to the Baltics and Western Europe; a small and lightly regulated financial center; anti-money-laundering legislation does not meet international standards and was weakened further when know-your-customer requirements were curtailed in 2008; few investigations or prosecutions of money-laundering activities

NOTE: The information regarding Belarus on this page is re-published from the 2022 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Belarus 2022 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Belarus 2022 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.