Refugees (country of origin): 126,407 applicants for forms of legal stay other than asylum (Ukraine) (2015)
Stateless persons: 6,440 (2014)
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, Belarus, and other countries; Ukrainian women may be sex trafficked in Belarus
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 has a written plan that, if implemented, would constitute a significant effort toward meeting the minimum standards for eliminating human trafficking; authorities did not convict any trafficker and conducted the fewest investigations in the last four years; a 2013 law permitting state funding for NGOs that provide services to victims has not been implemented; the government retained a decree forbidding workers from leaving their jobs in the wood processing industry without their employer’s permission, and authorities did not identify any labor trafficking victims; continuing efforts to prevent human trafficking included awareness campaigns, penalizing fraudulent labor recruitment, and a safe migration hotline (2014)
| Year |
|
