Belarus Issues - 2024

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): 42,785 (Ukraine) (as of 29 February 2024)

stateless persons: 5,626 (2022)

Trafficking in persons

tier rating: Tier 3 — Belarus does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so, therefore, Belarus remained on Tier 3; the government decreased trafficking-related investigations and prosecutions; fewer victims were identified and referred to services; officials did not report investigating, prosecuting, or convicting any traffickers under its trafficking statute nor did they provide adequate protection to victims; officials reportedly returned many migrants and asylum seekers to their countries of origin without screening them for indicators of trafficking; similarly, authorities did not screen Ukrainian refugees; the government did not report conducting awareness-raising activities, and its efforts to prevent labor trafficking remained inadequate; for the sixth consecutive year, Belarus did not report investigating or filing charges related to illegal recruitment of migrant workers (2023)

trafficking profile: human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in Belarus and exploit Belarusians abroad; the majority of trafficking victims are men subjected to forced labor, primarily in Belarus and Russia but also in Poland, Turkey, and other European, Eurasian and Middle Eastern countries; some Belarusian women traveling for foreign employment in the adult entertainment and hotel industries are subjected to sex trafficking; most traffickers are Belarusian citizens, and traffickers increasingly use online methods to coerce victims into forced labor and sex trafficking; the government has identified Belarusian, Moldovan, Russian, Ukrainian, and Vietnamese victims in Belarus; Belarusian authorities continue to facilitate entry into Belarus of thousands of migrants and asylum seekers, mostly from Iraq but also from other Middle Eastern countries, sub-Saharan Africa, and Central Asia under a government-orchestrated migration crisis that began in 2021; officials facilitate onward travel to the borders of Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland where migrants are encouraged, and sometimes forced, to attempt irregular border crossings; these migrants remain vulnerable to trafficking (2023)

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