Country Profile Belarus

General Country Information

Summary

There is no national women’s helpline in Belarus, although there is one generic helpline for family and child-related issues which can provide counselling. Belarus has three women-only shelters, but the number of beds is not available. There are no women’s centres in Belarus as well as no support services for survivors of sexualised violence. State authorities do not collect or publish data on women’s specialist services. In 2023, the Ministry of Internal Affairs stated that law enforcement information on domestic violence was classified as official information of restricted distribution and therefore could not be made available to the public. However, until 2018, statistics on domestic violence offenses were publicly available and regularly updated. Other state bodies publish domestic violence related statistics irregularly, but the data is often not comparable. The absence of women’s specialist services and the repression of civil society prevent any comprehensive understanding of violence against women and girls in Belarus³.

Women’s Specialist Services

There is no national women’s helpline in Belarus. The only national women’s helpline was the National Hotline for victims of family violence (Общенациональная горячая линия для пострадавших от домашнего насилия) which was run by the international public association “Gender Perspectives” from 2012 to 2021. The helpline responded to over 15,000 calls from 2011 to 2021. As a result of state repressions against Belarusian civil society, “Gender Perspectives” was compulsorily liquidated and the helpline was indefinitely suspended in July 2021 when the office was raided by law enforcement. This situation has created significant challenges and limitations in accessing information on women’s specialist services in Belarus. The country does not meet the Istanbul Convention minimum standards for the provision of a national women’s helpline.

There is one other generic helpline for family and child-related issues which can provide counselling, crisis psychological support, and referral to state crisis rooms for survivors of domestic violence, when requested. This is the 24-hour crisis helpline for family and children’s issues (Городская круглосуточная кризисная телефонная информационная линия по проблемам семьи и детей) managed by the Minsk City Centre for Social Services for Family and Children (tel.: +375 293673232). The helpline is free of charge and available 24/7, although it provides services mainly for Minsk residents.

There are three women-only shelters in Belarus operated by the SOS Children Village, a children rights NGO. The two shelters in Minsk and the Minsk region have five beds for women and 10 for children, while the shelter in Mogilev City can accommodate 10 women and 14 children. In 2022, the only specialised shelter for women survivors of domestic violence managed by the NGO Radislava was liquidated by authorities. Available shelters are open to women and children and on average, women stay in the shelters between six weeks and five months. None of the women-only shelters offer 24/7 access. Women are not expected to pay for their accommodation in women-only shelters. The types of in-house services most often provided by women-only shelters are casework, counselling/psychological support, referrals/collaboration with other services, and legal advice.

None of the women-only shelters can be accessed by and are accessible to women with substance abuse issues, older women (65 years and above), women with older sons (14 years and above), and unaccompanied girls under the age of 18. There are also no specialised shelters supporting particular groups of survivors nor women survivors or those at risk of specific forms of violence in Belarus.

Funding for women-only shelters in Belarus comes from donations and international funding. One shelter for women and children offers its services in the Mogilev region and all the others are in Minsk and the Minsk region. The most common form of violence reported by survivors in women-only shelters in 2024 was domestic violence. The two shelters in Minsk and the Minsk region assisted 13 women and 17 children in 2024, while the shelter in Mogilev accommodated 15 women and 29 children.

There are no other shelters in the country that can provide specialised support to survivors of domestic violence. Survivors in need of a safe shelter are provided with temporary shelter services, in one of the 134 available crisis rooms⁵ across the country. However, in 2022 and 2023, only about half of those receiving support in crisis rooms were domestic violence survivors. Additionally, women may be asked to share a room with men receiving crisis room care, and in some cases, perpetrators have also been accommodated in crisis rooms. Some crisis rooms do not have a secret address as they are located in homes for veterans and pensioners. The state in Belarus is developing a network of crisis rooms throughout the country, but their effectiveness is low, especially in small towns and rural areas, where the address of the crisis room can easily become public. The majority of crisis rooms are located in a city or near a city, but none offer 24/7 access. According to the Ministry of Social Welfare, in 2023, temporary shelter was provided to 496 citizens, including 236 survivors of domestic violence.

There are no women’s centres in Belarus. The 134 crisis rooms however do provide non-residential support such as casework, referrals and collaboration with other services, as well as practical advice. Crisis rooms do not offer specialised assistance to survivors of violence, or only to women, but to all individuals in different crisis situations. According to the Ministry of Social Welfare, in 2023, 15,400 citizens who had suffered domestic violence sought help from state social centres, and almost all social centres now have crisis rooms available.

There are no services for women and girls who have experienced sexualised violence in Belarus.

Public authorities in Belarus do not collect data on primary prevention activities and there is no official state definition of primary prevention. Additionally, no specific budget is allocated to primary prevention activities. There are no organisations focusing solely on primary prevention in Belarus.

In 2022, amendments were made to the Law of the Republic of Belarus from 2014; No. 122-Z “On the Basics of Activities for the Prevention of Offenses”, aimed at preventing domestic violence. It is important to note that the principles of “preserving traditional family values, respecting privacy, not considering customs, beliefs, and traditions as justifications for offenses, and prioritising preventive measures over punitive measures” have been added to Article 4 of the law, which regulates the principles of the activities in the field of offense prevention. Additionally, the amended Prevention Law does not define domestic violence as a gender-specific problem, unlike the Istanbul Convention. The state lacks an understanding of how gender inequality, as a root cause, and gender, as a vulnerability factor for women, is related to domestic violence. The Prevention Law only once mentions NGOs as subjects of interagency cooperation and does not regulate their participation in domestic violence prevention and assistance to survivors⁶.

1. The most recent available data on Eurostat is from 2019. ↩︎
2. Ibid. ↩︎
3. By December 30, 2024, 1,186 NGOs were in the process of forced liquidation, including liquidation claims by authorities. Furthermore, 705 NGOs decided to self-liquidate, primarily due to pressure on members and staff as well as the unfavourable legal environment and the general socio-political situation in Belarus. ↩︎
4. This number includes only the shelter beds available to women in the three women-only shelters and excludes the 34 other shelters beds for children. ↩︎
5. According to the shadow report on Domestic Violence Problem in Belarus to the CEDAW Committee prepared by the Belarusian Coalition of Civil Society Organisations, Initiatives and Activists (in exile) against Gender-based and Domestic Violence, 2025. ↩︎
6. More on the legislative changes which came into force in 2022 can be found in the shadow report on Domestic Violence Problem in Belarus to the CEDAW Committee prepared by the Belarusian Coalition of Civil Society Organisations, Initiatives and Activists (in exile) against Gender-based and Domestic Violence, 2025. ↩︎