Belarus Country Report: November 2025
- Genocide Watch
- 1 day ago
- 4 min read
By Juliana Girotto
Genocide Watch is issuing a Genocide Warning for Belarus. Five years since mass protests swept Belarus in 2020, the Lukashenko government has deepened its repression and involvement in human rights violations. Belarusians are denied the ability to exercise basic rights, including freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly.
In the February 2024 parliamentary elections and the January 2025 presidential election, no candidates from any opposition party were allowed to register or campaign meaningfully against Lukashenko. There is also currently no registered party that represents the interests of ethnic, religious, or other minority groups. In 2023, amendments to the Law on Public Associations facilitated the dissolution of at least 960 civil society organizations, with 550 more closing out of fear of persecution. The loss of civil society organizations leaves minority populations with no means for gaining meaningful political representation.
There is increasing suppression of all forms of public criticism and peaceful disagreement. Free media have been restricted, with at least 16,000 cases of “extremism” reported during the 2020-2025 period. The Belarusian government owns the only internet service provider and can disrupt and censor internet and media access across the entire country. As of December 2024, 1,265 people were imprisoned on politically-motivated charges, and 3,000 were released after serving their full sentences. In these cases, the United Nations (U.N.) has reported that rights to due process and a fair trial are being denied. Among those recently released, there have been reports of forced deportations and exile to neighboring Lithuania.
In 2024, further amendments to the Law on Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organization established broader, arbitrary grounds for liquidating religious organizations, requiring such groups to register with the government and to engage in mandatory reporting of their activities. Since 2023, the government has also actively involved the military and security forces in education. Revised historical curricula have been introduced into schools, and legislation has been enacted to punish any teachers who deviate from the approved historical narrative. These represent serious limitations to freedom of expression.
Belarus’ alliance with Russia and its involvement in the war in Ukraine have provided opportunities for further repression. As of 2024, at least 94 Belarusians had received prison sentences for their anti-war stances, which were expressed through public protests or on social media. Belarus has also engaged in a joint effort with Russia to forcibly relocate Ukrainian children, and at least 2,422 Ukrainian children between the ages of six and seventeen have been taken to 13 different facilities across Belarus. “Re-education” efforts in these facilities promote political, cultural, and social messages that advance the interests of Belarus and Russia. Researchers have asserted that the deportation and re-education of Ukrainian children might be considered war crimes under international law.
Within detention facilities across Belarus, prisoners have been subject to inhuman conditions and torture. Prisoners have been held in severely overcrowded cells with unhygienic conditions and a denial of necessities such as warm clothes, blankets, showers, hygienic items, and medical assistance. Those who were held on politically-motivated charges received harsher treatment in these facilities after being put on a list of people who were “prone to extremism” and having their clothes marked with yellow tags. Detainees in this category have been subject to arbitrary and disproportionate punishment, such as strict observance, isolation, and compulsory and exploitative labor. Prisoners have also died or disappeared: between 2020 and 2023, 27 cases of enforced disappearances and five cases of death that resulted from disproportionate force or from a failure to protect life in detention. U.N. reporters state that these violations may amount to crimes against humanity—specifically persecution—under international law.
There has also been evidence of sex- and gender-based violence committed by Belarusian security forces against individuals of all gender identities. The violence includes rape and other forms of violence like sexualized torture and forced nudity, and it has largely occurred in police vehicles, police stations, and detention facilities. Verbal acts include threats of rape and gang rape to degrade and intimidate detainees; LGBTQ+-identifying individuals have faced more severe verbal violence of this type. Since 2021, there have been 121 documented incidents of unnecessary strip and cavity searches in detention facilities. Such searches were not carried out for security purposes, but rather with the intent to intimidate and humiliate detainees, which could amount to ill-treatment or torture.
Genocide Watch considers Belarus to be at Stage 6: Polarization and Stage 8: Persecution. Genocide Watch recommends:
The United States, European Union, and U.N. should demand the immediate and unconditional release of all individuals imprisoned on politically-motivated charges.
The U.N. Refugee Agency and the International Criminal Court should initiate investigations into torture, enforced disappearances, and deaths in Belarus’ custody which may amount to crimes against humanity under international law.
The U.N. Refugee Agency and the International Criminal Court should also initiate investigations into war crimes involving Belarus’ involvement in relocating Ukrainian children.
Neighboring countries such as Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia should continue to grant asylum and protection to Belarusian dissidents, activists, and journalists.
