Project description:
The project will help media workers at risk to develop analytical, data, and solutions projects by covering author fees and offering mentor support by reputable media in the European Union. Media workers at risk face complete loss of income, their upcoming challenge is to remain afloat while restructuring their work and revenue streams. Data and solutions reporting are popular with audiences, and media that feature those stories should increase their audience share and thus improve revenue opportunities. Covering author fees will help media workers to remain in the profession. This project will result in production of six articles on the situation in the target region published in V4 media, one report on target region media landscape, eight solutions and four data projects.
Donor: The International Visegrad Fund
Web: https://www.visegradfund.org/
Project partners:
Center for Independent Journalism (CIJ) (https://cij.hu/en)
Linking Media
Forthcoming articles within the project:
Belarus: Wasteland for Environmental Activists
This is a shortened, working version of an article to be published soon on Transitions. The author is a journalist from Belarus who wishes to remain anonymous to protect their security.
Photo by Maxim Tolchinskiy on Unsplash.
Polina Druzhnaya (the names of all sources have been changed to protect their identities), an expert in waste management, had to leave Belarus for Lithuania in September 2023.
“I have only recently left Belarus and I hardly ever give interviews to the media, as I have not yet figured out what is dangerous to talk about and what is not,” she said. “I still have relatives in Belarus, and I’m worried about them.”
The Belarusian authorities shut down all environmental NGOs two years ago, for reasons that remain unclear but may be linked to the widespread suppression of all forms of dissent against the authoritarian government.
One woman, a specialist in conservation of water resources, believes that Belarus has good domestic legislation on environmental protection and the state’s monitoring system works to some extent. The problem is lack of publicly available information.
“Previously, the results of environmental monitoring were posted by the relevant state bodies on their websites, she says. Now it has become much harder for the public to access such information.
The authorities continue to publish a register of environmental activities carried out by state and local authorities. However, she says, “starting from 2022, almost any information from this list can be obtained only upon request” – even though the register doubled in size that year, to 546 pages, as new bodies were added.
Even access to information on the spread of invasive plant species in Belarus is now restricted. Not to mention data on water and air quality control in the vicinity of state enterprises, large state farms, and much else.
In 2001, Belarus joined the Aarhus Convention, which provides for access to information, public participation in decision-making and access to justice in environmental matters.
The Belarusian authorities claimed that they were fulfilling their obligations. However, progress in achieving the goals of the convention was ensured by the efforts of environmental activists rather than government officials.
Access to justice in environmental matters was particularly problematic. The water conservation specialist says that in the period from 2015 to 2020 there were cases when citizens won courts for violation of environmental legislation, but they were very few. There were no such precedents in the history of independent Belarus before 2015, and there were no such cases after 2020, the year when longtime leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka claimed victory in a hotly disputed presidential election.
In 2022 Belarus withdrew from the convention in response to criticism from the UNECE for persecution of eco-activists and closure of environmental NGOs.
A sustainability activist who had to leave Belarus in 2020 says that there are still people in Belarus who promote the themes of environmental protection and green living. However, there are very few eco-journalists in the country who are ready to provide them with this information:
“There are few journalists left in Belarus who are ready to work with environmental topics. Writing the truth about ecology in our country is possible only for media outlets whose editorial offices have moved their activities abroad, but in Belarus such media are recognized as extremist, and working for them is a big risk for journalists.”
The Female ‘Extremists’ of Belarus
by Yauheniya Dolgaya
Photo by Jeong Yejune under an Unsplash license.
This is a shortened, working version of an article to be published soon on Transitions. Author Yauheniya Dolgaya has previously written on this topic for openDemocracy.
They are aged from 18 to 75. Among them are mothers with many children,
women with disabilities, the elderly, students, teachers, lawyers, human rights
activists, journalists, doctors – all sentenced to prison for peacefully expressing
their opposition to the ruling Belarusian regime.
Since 2020, at least 841 women have been convicted in Belarus in politically
motivated criminal cases, according to data compiled by the Belarusian Human
Rights Center Viasna.
They are just part of the thousands of Belarusians sent to prison since a mass
protest movement erupted in 2020 when the country’s authoritarian leader
Alyaksandr Lukashenka claimed victory in a disputed presidential election.
Most often Belarusian women were tried for participation in protests, insulting a
representative of the authorities (mainly comments in social networks under
political innovations), and “hooliganism” (mainly for political graffiti). Among the
convicted political prisoners there are also more serious articles: incitement of
social hatred, acts of terrorism, treason.
Anastasia Bulybenko is 23 years old. In November 2020, she and 11 others who
took part in protests at universities were detained by the KGB in the so-called
“student case.” Anastasia was a second-year student of the Belarusian National
University. She was sentenced to two and a half years in a penal colony.
“I was tormented by severe anxiety and insomnia in November 2020. On the day I
was arrested, I woke up to the fact that six unfamiliar men were standing over me.
One of them was shoving an ID in my face and another was reaching under my
pillow to find my phone. When I recall it, I still shake with horror,” she says.
49-year-old activist Alena Lazarchik was sentenced to eight years in prison for
“extremism.” It is important to clarify that the Belarusian authorities call all
opposition materials extremism. Alena was arrested on New Year’s Eve. The
following July, she learned that she had been deprived of parental rights over her
five children.
The youngest, Artem, is already nine years old. Before her arrest under the criminal
article, Alena had been arrested in September 2020 for the administrative offense
of participation in protests. At that time Artem was taken by the guardianship
service to an orphanage, and Belarusians went in a crowd to demand the return of
the child to his mother. Alena was released and Artem from the orphanage, too. But a year later, after being sentenced under the more serious charge of extremism,
she lost her parental rights.
Both parents in prison
According to Viasna, there are at least 1451 political prisoners in Belarusian prisons
right now. Their relatives and children are still waiting for them. For some children,
both parents are in jail. Like Paulina Losik, for example. Her father, blogger and
media consultant for Radio Liberty Igor Losik, was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Paulina’s mother, Daria Losik, was sentenced to two years in a penal colony for
“promoting extremist activity.” According to the case materials, Daria gave an
interview to the Polish TV channel Belsat, which the Belarusian authorities named as
an “extremist formation” on November 3, 2021. The case materials state that Daria
allegedly “positioned herself as the wife of a political prisoner, as well as gave a
personal negative assessment of the state authorities, whose competence includes
the implementation of criminal prosecution and justice. At the same time, she said
that her husband had not committed criminal acts and was convicted illegally. She
urged relatives of other convicts to follow her example.” When law enforcers came
to Daria’s home to detain her, her three-year-old daughter Paulina was with her.
Paulina is now four. When Igor was detained, the girl was one year old. She’s
already forgetting her daddy. Daria Losik is scheduled for release in August 2024.
Dangerous volunteering
At least five organizations and initiatives work to help political prisoners in Belarus.
The initiatives help collect supplies to be sent to prisoners, counsel families, help
with medicines. The initiatives themselves work abroad because they are all
declared “extremists” in their home country. The main work is done by volunteers
inside Belarus.
Katsiaryna (not her real name) is one such volunteer. Every week for the last three
years, she comes to the detention center bringing food, hygiene products, and
other necessaries.
“I live in Minsk not far from the detention center, so every week I bring a handout
to political prisoners. I come together with another female volunteer to hand over
to more people if possible,” she explains.
In Belarus, the volunteer movement has gone underground. Because volunteers are
also arrested and prosecuted. It’s unwise to say out loud that you cooperate with
any organization. You have to say that you help on your own. Otherwise you may
face a charge of participating in an extremist organization.
Some go to jail, some live under strict ‘open’ regimes
In addition to those sentenced to prison, a further 441 Belarusians have been
sentenced to house arrest on politically-motivated charges.
These men and women live under highly regimented conditions. They have
schedules for both work and personal activities, including going to the store or
throwing out the trash. On weekends and holidays, the convict is not allowed to
leave home. The police can come to check on them any day, at any time.
In addition, 69 women have been ordered to serve their terms in an open-type
correctional institution. Here, inmates live in housing units similar to dormitories. By
law each prisoner is supposed to have at least three square meters of living space.
Inmates pay for this “accommodation,” buy food at their own expense, and cook,
wash, and clean for themselves.
All prisoners are required to work, often in low-skilled and low-paid jobs. A number
of women political prisoners have been sent to work as cleaners in factories or as
sanitation workers in hospitals.
Solutions Journalism: Lifting the Stigma Around Sexual ‘Others’ in Belarus
by Tanya Hendzel
This is a working version of an article to be published soon on Transitions.
Tanya Hendzel is a Belarusian journalist now based in Western Europe.
She is a frequent contributor to Transitions, writing on such Belarusian
topics as a volunteer search and rescue team, an innovative help group for
people with mental disorders, and a group of businesswomen dedicated to
helping victims of human trafficking.
A year ago, two young Belarusian women launched Гэта Окей (It’s OK), an
initiative aimed at reducing the stigma around this community. It’s OK
does not have a website, because the Belarusian authorities would in all
probability block it. Instead, word about It’s OK is spread mainly by
bloggers and influencers, both within the country or outside.
Many in the LGBTQ+ community in Belarus live with the daily fear of being
outed or harassed in other ways because of their sexual orientation.
Many civil society organizations serving all sectors of society have been
forced to close during the long crackdown on all forms of unofficial
expression that began after a disputed presidential election in 2020 and
shows no signs of easing. The major media (all owned or controlled by the
state) regularly portray LGBTQ+ people in a strongly negative light. In
2022, “every second publication on LGBT+ in the Belarusian media
contained hate speech,” one media monitor remarked.
The two founders themselves now live in Georgia, a country with similarly
harsh views of people outside the accepted bounds of behavior, yet where
freedom of expression is relatively untrammeled.
The initiative works with the topics of gender and sexuality. It organizes
educational events and information campaigns. Volunteer helpers spend a lot time reaching out to representatives of the media and conducting educational campaigns on hate speech. Their goal is for LGBTQ+ persons to become a normal part of the information space.
Perhaps most impressively, It’s OK has managed to hold several events
inside Belarus, in Minsk, Mogilev, and Vitebsk, and in other cities including
Warsaw, Vilnius, and Tbilisi.
Working with the LGBTQ+ community in Belarus is complicated by
organizational hurdles and legal limitations. Still, volunteers have set up
offline meetings and gatherings, from parties to educational seminars on
the topic of gender.
The two founders have gained useful skills and knowledge through
cooperation with a similarly-themed project in their new home, Tbilisi.
Results so far
In the past six months, the It’s OK team has accomplished most of its
planned activities for its first year. Some highlights:
● A study on stigmatization of LGBTQ+ people in Belarusian society,
where 445 Belarusians who do not identify themselves as queer
(through a questionnaire) were surveyed and 10 in-depth interviews
were conducted.
● An information campaign where Belarusians (including
Influencers) shared their stories of LGBTQ+ acceptance. The
campaign reached about 80,000 people through mentions in
various media outlets and podcasts that do not typically cover
LGBTQ+ topics.
● 13 articles in various (non-LGBTQ+ community oriented) media
and about 30 Instagram posts by organizations, media, bloggers,
and ordinary Belarusians.
Solutions Journalism: NGO Aids Armenian Veterans and Refugees
by Kathrin Yaromich
This is a working version of an article to be published soon on Transitions. Kathrin Yaromich is a TV producer for the TV and digital news service Current Time and a freelance journalist. She has reported for Transitions on help for victims of human trafficking and on a grassroots effort to send vital protective equipment to Belarus during the pandemic.
The pervasive instability in the Nagorno-Karabakh region has profoundly impacted the lives of thousands of residents, compelling much of the ethnic Armenian population to abandon their homes. Consequently, Karabakh refugees not only face homelessness but also encounter difficulties in integrating into Armenian society. Some were injured during the hostilities when Azerbaijani forces took full control of the region in September.
This predicament is not exclusive to Nagorno-Karabakh but is a shared challenge in numerous conflict-ridden areas worldwide, where populations experience displacement and grapple with unfamiliar realities.
An NGO called Smart Armenia has filled the gaps in what many feel was an inadequate response from the government to the sudden arrival of some 100,000 refugees.
Smart Armenia originally dedicated itself to integrating disabled veterans of the earlier, 2020 war and their family members into the labor market.The organization collaborates with businesses to create opportunities and offers comprehensive educational programs in areas such as robotics, digital marketing, UI/UX design, and front-end programming.
Recently, the initiative had to shift its focus to crisis management. It began providing shelter to Armenian refugees fleeing the Nagorno-Karabakh region after Azerbaijan’s takeover, arranging temporary housing in school gyms, and distributing essential food and sanitary products. The initiative says that it has successfully found housing for all the refugees under its care and is now transitioning to the next phase of support.
Insights
The solution offered by Smart Armenia is multifaceted, encompassing crisis response and long-term solutions such as labor market integration. Both before and during the recent exodus from Nagorno-Karabakh, the group has faced many challenges in terms of funding, official support, and providing complex assistance to veterans and civilians.
Hundreds of disabled veterans have received educational training and skills for integrating into the labor market thanks to the group’s work. More recently, Smart Armenia’s main task involves finding short-term and long-term housing for the refugees. All this has been achieved despite limited support from the Armenian government.
