March overview: NGO activities, liquidation trends, pressure on civil society organizations and persecution of their members, new legislative developments.
In March 2026, the situation regarding freedom of association in Belarus remained consistently unfavorable and showed no signs of improvement. State policy continues to focus on maintaining control over the registered sector and excluding independent initiatives from the public space. There remains a high level of pressure on any initiatives that run counter to the official Belarusian ideology, including those abroad. One by one, annual cultural and entertainment festivals are being canceled, and authorities are holding individuals accountable even for participating in closed, traditional events.
Anti-extremism legislation remains one of the key instruments of pressure, applied to organizations and initiatives regardless of their field of activity, including cultural, publishing, and solidarity initiatives. This practice demonstrates the systemic use of “legal” mechanisms to suppress civic activity and restrict freedom of association.
During the monitoring period, the pardon of 250 political prisoners was announced. Among those released were Viasna Human Rights Center Board member Valiantsin Stefanovich, Human Constanta human rights defender Nasta Loika, and Valeryia Kastsiuhova, founder and editor of the expert community website «Наше мнение» (“Our Opinion”) and head of the expert monitoring group “Belarus in Focus.” Despite the humanitarian significance of these releases, the measures were not accompanied by changes in the legal or institutional environment. Dozens of representatives of civil society organizations (CSOs) remain in detention. Fifteen individuals were forcibly deported from Belarus. This practice of forcing released individuals to leave the country serves as an additional tool of pressure and the displacement of active members of civil society beyond the country’s borders.
During the reporting period, it became known that at least 4 non-governmental institutions were forcibly liquidated. As of the end of March 2026, according to monitoring conducted by Lawtrend, the overall losses in the civil society sector since the post-election period of 2020 amount to at least 2,020 institutionalized NPOs (public associations, trade unions, political parties, foundations, non-governmental institutions, associations).
Under ongoing pressure, civil society continues to operate in a hybrid format: some initiatives maintain activities within the country amid heightened risks, while many organizations continue their work in exile. At the same time, the state’s repressive policy is increasingly extending to the activities of Belarusian organizations and initiatives abroad.
At the 61st session of the UN Human Rights Council, human rights organizations once again pointed out that Belarus continues to ignore fundamental recommendations on freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, and association. Following the adoption of the Universal Periodic Review outcome report on Belarus, the authorities supported only half of the 332 recommendations. They did not support key recommendations related to creating a safe and enabling environment for civil society. The report presented by the Chair of the Group of Independent Experts on Belarus to the UN Human Rights Council documented the systematic suppression by the state of the rights to freedom of opinion, expression, peaceful assembly, and association since 2020.
Thus, the international agenda not only documents existing human rights violations in Belarus, including violations of freedom of association, but also confirms their persistent and systemic nature.
Activities of non-profit organizations within the country
In March 2026, the activities of registered organizations within the country continued under strict administrative control and restrictions. A key factor was the requirement for NPOs to submit mandatory annual reporting. Public associations and their unions, in accordance with the law, are required to make information about their activities publicly available by March 31, while foundations must do so by March 1. This reporting includes information on the continuation of activities, legal address, membership, organizational structures, and all events held within the year, including their objectives, content, and participants, such as bloggers, journalists, and moderators of social media communities. In addition, organizations are required to publish information on the receipt and expenditure of funds and property.
Public reporting was introduced as part of anti-terrorism legislation and applies to all public associations and foundations, regardless of the scale of their activities, the number of members, or the level of funding. At the same time, it requires the disclosure of excessive amounts of information unrelated to countering the financing of terrorism. Such reporting also duplicates data that has already been submitted to justice authorities and tax bodies. Such a practice does not comply with the principle of proportionality in state interference in NPO activities.
In the context of the socio-political crisis, public reporting has predictably become an additional instrument of pressure on NPOs. Violations of reporting requirements, including minor breaches of deadlines or publication procedures, have repeatedly been used in previous monitoring periods as formal grounds for the forced liquidation of public associations and foundations.
Thus, March became a period of increased administrative burden for public associations and foundations, accompanied by risks of sanctions for failure to comply with formal requirements. Taken together, this indicates the use of administrative control mechanisms to restrict the activities of independent CSOs.
Liquidation of non-profit organizations
During the monitoring period, decisions on forced liquidation were adopted regarding at least 4 non-governmental institutions. Notably, one of the liquidated institutions had been registered in May 2021, that is, already after the onset of large-scale repression in the country, including against civil society. Decisions on forced liquidation were made by registering authorities through extrajudicial procedures, based on allegations that the institutions had allegedly carried out activities inconsistent with their statutory objectives. The practice of liquidating non-governmental institutions was widespread in 2021, after which it became more targeted. However, at the end of 2025, it intensified again: from late December 2025 to March 2026, at least 14 non-governmental institutions were forcibly liquidated.
According to Yury Kardymon, Deputy Head of a department of the Financial Investigations Department of the State Control Committee (KGK), speaking on ONT [the second-largest state-owned television channel in Belarus], the possibility of initiating a criminal case is being considered against the management of one of the liquidated institutions, the social and charitable institution “KinderVita.” According to the KGK representative, various public associations, institutions, and foundations are periodically brought to the attention of financial investigation bodies, allegedly collecting significant donations from citizens under the pretext of charity and subsequently spending them for personal purposes.
Earlier, the media outlet «Мінская праўда» (“Minsk Truth”, the largest state-owned media outlet for the Minsk Region) published an article criticizing independent charitable initiatives and calling for support to pro-government organizations and civic initiatives. It should be noted that this continues a broader media rhetoric aimed at discrediting independent charitable organizations, which has intensified since the end of January this year. This information campaign indicates an ongoing effort to discredit the independent sector and shape negative public attitudes toward non-governmental initiatives.
Against the backdrop of this campaign, it was also reported during the previous monitoring period that a new regulatory legal act is being drafted to regulate charitable activities, including the establishment of mechanisms for fundraising, reporting, and oversight of the fund use, as well as the regulation of donation collection boxes.
According to Lawtrend monitoring, from early 2021 through the end of March 2026, at least 1,239 NPOs of various legal forms were forcibly liquidated.
During the monitoring period, at least 4 public associations voluntarily liquidated. One of these associations was registered in September 2021, and two of the three associations had consistently submitted reports to the registering authority before the decision on their liquidation. The main reasons for voluntary dissolution remain the large-scale repression in the country, the unfavorable legal environment, and pressure on civil society, including specific organizations, their leaders, members, and staff.
As of March 31, 2026, according to Lawtrend’s monitoring since 2021, at least 781 NPOs (public associations, associations, foundations, institutions, and a political party) have had their participants/founders independently decide to undergo liquidation.
Thus, liquidation, both forced and voluntary, despite a decrease in its scale compared to 2021-2024, continues to remain one of the key factors contributing to the shrinking space for civil society activity in Belarus and reflects a persistent trend toward further institutional contraction of the civil society sector.
Administrative and criminal prosecution of the leadership and members of civil society organizations, as well as other forms of pressure on civil society organizations
Despite the early release of the Viasna Human Rights Center Board member Valiantsin Stefanovich, Human Constanta human rights defender Nasta Loika, and Valeryia Kastsiuhova, founder and editor of the expert community website «Наше мнение» (“Our Opinion”) and head of the expert monitoring group “Belarus in Focus”, dozens of representatives of CSOs and religious organizations, and no less than 20 representatives of trade unions and the labor movement continue to serve prison sentences.
The authorities continue to take measures aimed at preventing civic activity and collective self-organization of Belarusians abroad. Ahead of March 25 (“Freedom Day”), the Investigative Committee once again warned Belarusians of criminal liability for participating in such events. In particular, it was stated that “modern methods make it possible to identify every individual. Those involved will be identified, their actions qualified in accordance with the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus, and they will be held accountable, if necessary, through the use of special proceedings mechanisms and confiscation of property within Belarus.”
An additional tool for restricting access to information was the decision of the Operational and Analytical Center to temporarily limit access to several internet resources within Belarus from outside the country from 20:00 on March 24 to 08:00 on March 26, justified by an alleged “threat of destructive influences in cyberspace.”
The practice of applying anti-extremism legislation continues to expand, effectively leading to the criminalization of a wide range of civic activities. By the end of March, 339 entities (8 more than in the previous monitoring period) had been included in the List of Organizations, Formations, and Individual Entrepreneurs Involved in Extremist Activities. During the monitoring period, the following were recognized as “extremist formations,” among others:
- PEN Belarus, one of the country’s oldest human rights and cultural organizations protecting freedom of expression and the rights of writers;
- Human Constanta, the human rights organization;
- the coalition of publishing houses Kamunikat.org Foundation, Lohvinau Publishing House, Andrei Yanushkevich Publishing;
- Belarusians of Valencia community;
- Northern Lights film festival;
- the Spadchyna Belarusi (Heritage of Belarus) Foundation;
- The Civil Development Foundation “Nation of Leaders.”
During the monitoring period, the Republican List of Extremist Materials was expanded to include, among others:
- the websites and social media accounts of the human rights organization Human Constanta;
- the websites and social media accounts of the human rights project Heta Baza;
- the Facebook page «БХД/Белорусская христианская демократия» (Belarusian Christian Democracy);
- the information resources of diaspora initiatives, including “Bielorussi di Roma / Belarusians in Rome” and the Facebook page “Belarusian in Las Vegas.”
In addition, information resources of international human rights organizations were also designated as extremist materials, including the social media accounts of the International Society for Human Rights, and the Instagram and Threads pages of the Human Rights House Foundation.
Thus, in March 2026, the practice of applying criminal and administrative pressure mechanisms against representatives of civil society persisted and intensified, including the expansion of the list of “extremist” organizations and materials, as well as the extension of repressive measures to the activities of Belarusian initiatives outside the country.
Legislation
On March 16, 2026, Law of the Republic of Belarus No. 134-Z “On Amendments to Laws on the Regulation of Civil Procedure and Civil Legal Relations” was adopted, aimed at aligning several legislative acts with the Civil Procedure Code and the updated provisions of the Civil Code. Overall, the amendments affect more than 50 regulatory legal acts and are mainly technical and clarifying, intended to standardize and update terminology. However, certain provisions of the law are relevant to the regulation of non-profit organizations.
In particular, the provisions of the Law of the Republic of Belarus “On Public Associations” concerning liquidation have been brought into line with the norms of the Civil Code. It has been established that upon liquidation of a public association by court decision, if a liquidation commission is not created or a liquidator is not appointed within two months, these functions are transferred to the registering authority (the Ministry of Justice or its territorial bodies).
Additionally, the law introduces a provision stating that upon satisfaction of creditors’ claims, the funds and other property of a liquidated public association are to be transferred to state revenue. The powers of registering authorities have also been expanded, granting them the right to consider requests from members of public associations. These changes strengthen state control over public associations, including the liquidation processes and the redistribution of assets.
Amendments were also introduced to the Law of the Republic of Belarus “On Political Parties.” New provisions regulate the establishment and activities of an organizing committee for the creation of a political party, including requirements for its composition, a notification procedure for interaction with the Ministry of Justice, and disclosure of information on funding sources. The law was also supplemented with liquidation provisions similar to those applied to public associations.
By Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus No. 125 of March 17, 2026, the international technical assistance project “Improving the Quality and Accessibility of Medical Care for the Population Living in Territories Affected by the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Accident” was approved.