Monitoring of the situation with freedom of association and the status of civil society organizations in the Republic of Belarus May 2025
Repressions against Belarusian civil society organizations and individuals both within the country and those forced into exile continue.
Over a hundred representatives of civil society organizations, including members of trade unions and religious groups remain imprisoned. Providing assistance to or financing extremist activities, and creating, leading, or participating in “extremist formations” are among the most common charges used to impose lengthy prison sentences on activists.
The registration of new non-profit organizations within Belarus remains extremely rare. In May, two new local public associations were registered: the Public Feline Association «Club-MisterKoT» and the Youth Public Association «Sports Club ‘Rim’.» These are the first public associations registered in Belarus in 2025.
The re-registration of religious organizations will continue until July 5, 2025.
The practice of forced liquidation of non-profit organizations has shifted from a mass phenomenon to a more targeted approach. In May, one non-governmental institution, the Club Educational Institution «KinoBunker», was reportedly forcibly liquidated. At the same time, the rate at which non-profit organizations independently decide to liquidate remains high. During the monitoring period, at least nine non-profit organizations were reported to have made such a decision.
Since the post-election period in 2020, the Belarusian public sector has suffered the loss of no fewer than 1,936 institutionalized forms of non-profit organizations (including public associations, trade unions, political parties, foundations, non-governmental institutions, and associations).
By Resolution No. 263 of the Council of Ministers dated May 15, 2025 (the text of the legal act is available in Russian), the international technical assistance project «Forest Protection of Belarus: A Comprehensive Initiative to Ensure Preparedness for Fire Prevention and Response at the Local Level» was approved.
According to Resolution No. 294 of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus dated May 29, 2025 (the text of the legal act is available in Russian), the political party «Belaya Rus,» which was established to support the existing political regime and its organizational structures were granted preferential terms for renting state-owned property. The document indicates that the party and its structures are renting 118 premises.
Liquidation of non-profit organizations
The re-registration of religious organizations is ongoing. Organizations that fail to complete re-registration by July 5, 2025, will be subject to liquidation through the courts, and their activities will be considered illegal.
According to data from the resource katolik.life, current statistics have been published on the number of religious communities in the Minsk and Viciebsk regions. As a result of the re-registration process, the number of religious communities in these regions has declined: to date, 40 communities have ceased to exist in the Viciebsk region and 6 in the Minsk region.
During the monitoring period, two Catholic dioceses were re-registered: the Hrodna Diocese of the Roman Catholic Church and the Minsk-Mahiliou Archdiocese (re-registered in April 2025). As of the time this monitoring report was prepared, there was no information on the re-registration of the other two Catholic dioceses: Pinsk and Viciebsk.
Upon completion of the re-registration campaign, a significant reduction in the number of registered religious organizations in the country is expected.
During the monitoring period, one non-profit organization, the Club Educational Institution «KinoBunker», was reported to have been forcibly liquidated.
The trend of non-profit organizations of various legal forms deciding to self-liquidate remains steady. During the monitoring period, at least 9 non-profit organizations opted for self-liquidation, including 6 public associations, 2 foundations, and 1 institution.
As before, the primary reasons behind the voluntary liquidation of NGOs in Belarus are the unprecedented level of repression in the country, an unfavorable legal environment, pressure on the independent civil sector as a whole, as well as on specific organizations, their leadership, members, and employees.
As of May 31, 2025, according to monitoring conducted by Lawtrend[1], 1,190 non-profit organizations have been recorded as being in the process of forced liquidation. This includes cases where the registration authorities filed lawsuits for liquidation or where organizations were forcibly removed from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs. Additionally, at least 746 non-profit organizations (including public associations, foundations, institutions, and a political party) have been voluntarily dissolved by the decision of their members or founders, according to the monitoring conducted by Lawtrend.
Administrative and criminal prosecution of the leadership and members of civil society organizations, as well as other forms of pressure on civil society organizations.
In connection with the performance of their professional activities, participation in civil society organizations, and the manifestation of civic activism, at least 5 representatives of human rights organisations, dozens of representatives of civil society organizations and religious organizations, and 27 representatives of trade unions and the labour movement[2]continue to serve prison sentences.
During the monitoring period, the Republican List of Extremist Materials (the document is available in Russian), was updated to include informational content published on the Telegram channel «Youth Movement DoLGBT», as well as online resources such as Belarusian Hub in Warsaw (Беларускi Хаб у Варшаве), Honest People (Честные люди), and platforms of diaspora organizations, for example, the «Belarusians in Lithuania 2.0» («Беларусы в Литве 2.0») group on Telegram, the Facebook account «ZMAGAR Association of Belarusians In The USA», and informational content from «Community of Belarusians in Poznan» («Суполка беларусаў Познанi»).
As of the end of May, 293 new positions had been added to the List of organizations, formations, and individual entrepreneurs involved in extremist activities (the document is available in Russian). During the monitoring period, several entities were designated as extremist formations, including the initiative «Partyzanka» (which assists Belarusians with legalization issues, primarily in Poland), the Belarusian Social Democratic Party (Hramada), and the initiative «Belarusian Analytical Workshop.»
The Investigative Committee announced (the text is available in Russian) a criminal investigation into the participants and leader of the extremist formation associated with Pavel Liber, united by the interactive platform «New Belarus.» According to the IC, there is credible information concerning more than 1,000 users who registered in the «New Belarus» application and used its affiliated services, including individuals located within the territory of the Republic of Belarus.
[1] The monitoring only records cases of forced liquidation and self-liquidation of non-state non-profit organizations. State institutions and republican state-public associations are not included in the quantitative data. Also excluded from the count are consumer cooperatives and other legal forms of non-profit organizations aside from public associations such as trade unions, political parties, foundations, private institutions, and associations.
[2] Examples of representatives of civil society organizations being held in places of detention with liberty deprivation sentences, as well as information on individuals listed in extremist and/or terrorist registries can be found in Lawtrend’s monthly reviews of the situation with Freedom of association and the situation of civil society organizations, for example, for May 2024. Information about detained trade union members and trade union activists is published based on Solidarity data.