Belarusian Union of Youth and Children’s Associations Rada is under threat of liquidation
The Ministry of Justice accuses Rada of interfering into the policies and internal affairs of the governmental structures, reported Deutsche Welle.
The Supreme Courat the request of the Ministry of Justice brought a civil action aimed at liquidating the Belarusian Union of Youth and Children’s Associations Rada. The Ministry of Justice accuses Rada of interfering with the policies and internal affairs of governmental structures. Interference was the ideas about alternative youth policies and a possibility to adopt the European type of youth policies in Belarus.
The Union of youth and children’s public associations RADA is a full member of the International European Forum that defines the youth policies in the continent. It has a national status and is an umbrella structure for sevel organizations. Earlier there were 24 organizations. Iryna Bielavus, the Rada public relations consultant, said that a part of the organizations withdrew voluntarily and some had to face the condition of the Ministry of Justice: either they withdraw from Rada or their operations will be suspended (closed). Sviatlana Karaliova, the chair of the Rada presidium, said that the greatest costs incurred were in 2003, when the authorities initiated the creation of BRSM.
The claim of liquidation of Rada signed by Minister of Justice was called by Karaliova offensive and politically determined. The claim contained 8 pages with the facts that show, according to the Ministry of Justice, the violations of the law and the Charter of the Union. In particular, only part of the name of the organization was used in the mail of the organization and “the other part of the name that shows the organization and legal form was not mentioned.” In addition, the Ministry of Justice told that the headed note-papers of Rada had unregistered symbols on them.
One more charge brought agains Rada consisted in the fact that Rada encouraged the organizations participating in Rada to interfere into the activity of state bodies. This charge was based on the document that Rada proposed to send to the Administration of President, Parliament, and the Constitutional Court. The contents of the document were considered by the Ministry of Justice as the call to protest against the Presidential Decree that reinforced the order of receiving and using foreign grants.
The pressure on Rada, says Sviatlana Karaliova, reinforced after the December Forum of Independent Youth Associations of Belarus, where they presented an assessment of the state-sponsored policies that, in the opinion of the forum participants, are pursued with regard to the interests of the current authorities. The national tragedy, according to Karaliova, was the results of the poll conducted among the participants of the organization: more than 90 percent of the respondents said that they wanted to leave Belarus. Meanwhile, the Rada programs, emphasizes Karaliova, solve one of the major problems facing the youth – the problem of self-realization in the home-land through participation in various projects, including international ones.
