Belarusian Helsinki Committee asks Parliament to revoke Decree on social dependency

Members of the Belarusian Helsinki Committee drew 7 arguments why the Decree should be regarded as violating the Constitution and the international treaties of the country and needs to be abolished.

The human rights activists argue that this article constitutes a new form of forced labor, an attempt on the right and obligation of citizens to raise their children and take care of elderly parents, severe restrictions on the protection of personal data and privacy and the abuse of power by the President.

Therefore, in their appeal to the House of Representatives and the Council of the Republic Belarusian Helsinki Committee asks them to repeal the decree or send it to the Constitutional Court
for assessing its conformity with the Constitution and international legal instruments ratified by our country.

Let us remind that Presidential Decree №3 of 2 April 2015 "On the prevention of social dependency" (known in the public space as a "decree on parasitism"), states that the citizens of Belarus, foreign citizens and stateless persons who have been granted permanent residence in the country need to pay a fee to finance the state expenditures in the case of their non-participation in their or participation in such financing less than 183 calendar days a year.