10 GeoFroggy

Disputes International

boundary demarcated with Latvia and Lithuania, Poland seeks enhanced demarcation and security along this Schengen hard border with financial assistance from the EU

Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons

Stateless persons: 6,969 (2012)

Trafficking in Persons

Current situation: Belarus is a source, transit, and destination country for women, men, and children subjected to sex trafficking and forced labor, women and children are trafficked to European and Middle Eastern countries and within Belarus for sexual exploitation; Belarusian men, women, and children are found in forced labor in the construction industry and other sectors in Russia and Belarus; Belarusian men seeking work abroad are increasingly subjected to forced labor

Tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List - Belarus does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, however, it is making significant efforts to do so; the government demonstrates decreased law enforcement efforts, conducting fewer trafficking investigations and convicting only one trafficking offender; while two new anti-trafficking laws were passed, they have not been fully implemented and government services to victims remain very limited; the government continues its efforts to prevent trafficking through public awareness campaigns and NGO-operated anti-trafficking hotlines (2013)

Illicit Drugs

limited cultivation of opium poppy and cannabis, mostly for the domestic market, transshipment point for illicit drugs to and via Russia, and to the Baltics and Western Europe; a small and lightly regulated financial center; anti-money-laundering legislation does not meet international standards and was weakened further when know-your-customer requirements were curtailed in 2008; few investigations or prosecutions of money-laundering activities (2008)