Deputy Chair of Belarusian Social Democratic Party questions constitutionality of decree on social dependency

Deputy Chair of the Belarusian Social Democratic party (Hramada), Ihar Barysau asks the Constitutional Court to check the legality of Presidnetial Decree №3 «On prevention of social dependency".

“My appeal lists the articles of the Constitution, the Labor Code, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention "On the Abolition of Forced Labour" and other laws of the Republic of Belarus, which have been violated in the course of the adoption of this decree,” says Ihar Barysau.

The Social Democrat argues that the decree violates the rights and freedoms of citizens, and actually makes them pay a tax for staying in the country.

“Such decrees only damage the image of our country in the international arena. While the unemployed are paid unemployment benefits in all civilized countries, the Belarusian authorities try to make the unemployed finance the state expenses. If the state is bankrupt, why shall the people be made responsible for this?. If the state failed to maintain the social sphere and the economic indicators at the due levels, it must yield its place to others,not trying to continue its stagnation at the expense of others,” argues Mr. Barysau.

Deputy Chairman of the Belarusian Social Democratic Party notes that the preparation of the appeal to the Constitutional Court was assisted by the lawyer Alena Barysava.

“This decree is evidently unconstitutional. Moreover, its action starts since January 1, 2015 while it was adopted as late as April 2, 2015. I see this decree as a reflection of solely ideological and political factors, as far as it would be hardly possible to earn money on the fees that need to be paid by the unemployed. Most probably, the decree will be unusble, but we need to react it anyway,” says Alena Barysava.

It should be noted that in late June, Belarusian Social Democratic Party leadership organized a round table to discuss the decree and its consequences for the citizens. The head of the standing committees of the House of Representatives, as well as Minister of Labour and Social Welfare, were invited to the event, but ignored the invitation.

After the round table, Belarusian Social Democratic Party announced the campaign "For the abolition of the decree №3 “On prevention of social dependency". The campaigners began collecting signatures in all regions of Belarus. All the collected signatures will be handed over to the Presidential Administration of the Republic of Belarus.