Belarus

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Belarus is bordered by Poland to the west, Ukraine to the south and southwest, Russia to the east, and Lithuania and Latvia to the north. It is landlocked and flat with many lakes, measuring about 207,600 square kilometers (80,000 square miles). In July 2003 its population was estimated at 10 million. The capital of Belarus is located in Minsk.

Belarus, meaning "white Russia," was not an independent nation until 1991, when the Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic declared independence from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). Upon independence, Belarus became one of the three founding countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). This organization of former Soviet republics allows for collaboration while permitting each country to maintain its autonomy and independence. Belarus is also a member of the United Nations (UN). Economic and political changes have been very slow in Belarus, and the country has maintained extremely close political and economic ties with Russia.

The constitution adopted in 1994 established three branches of government in the republic: presidential, legislative, and judicial. It also established the right to vote for all citizens eighteen years or older.

The president is elected to serve five-year terms by popular vote. He or she appoints the prime minister, who is the head of the government, and a cabinet of ministers, who run the government. In 2004 the president of Belarus was Aleksandr Lukashenko (b. 1954), who was first elected in 1994. Lukashenko made the position of president extremely powerful in a 1996 constitutional amendment, which was approved in a voter referendum and widely acknowledged as a grab at dictatorial power. The amended constitution granted the president unbalanced power over the rest of the government. It lengthened Lukashenko's term, allowed his decrees to be considered law under many circumstances, and limited how often the legislature can meet.

The legislative branch is a bicameral body called the Natsionalnoy Sobranie. The Council of the Republic has sixty-four members who serve fouryear terms; regional councils elect fifty-six of these members, and the president appoints the other eight. The other house, the Chamber of Representatives, has 110 members elected for four-year terms.

Belarus's legal system is based on civil law. The judicial branch of government is a general court system headed by a Supreme Court and includes a Constitutional Court. The Constitutional Court addresses matters of constitutional interpretation and consistency. The Chamber of Representatives appoints 50 percent of its members; the other 50 percent are appointed by the president. The other court system, for nonconstitutional matters, operates under the Supreme Court.

Lukashenko has led the country as a dictator, implementing many socialist-based market reforms. International reports have revealed elections as generally unfair, often limiting significant citizen participation. In particular, observers have criticized the 1996 referendum expanding the powers of the president as fraudulent and the electoral process leading to its adoption as corrupt. In 2002 human rights violations in Belarus were widely reported by both the U.S. Department of State and Human Rights Watch, with citizens unable to drive political change. The government has prosecuted political opposition figures, prisoner torture remains a problem, and the government uses a presidential decree to prevent international human rights groups from even conducting operations in Belarus.

Lukashenko's authoritarian policies have prevented the country from achieving true economic and political success as a democracy. The poor human rights record in Belarus undermines the conditions necessary for a free and truly democratic society.

Russia.

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Human Rights Watch. World Report. New York: Human Rights Watch, 2003. <http://hrw.org/wr2k3/>.

Kort, Michael G. The Handbook of the Former Soviet Union. Brookfield, CT: Millbrook Press, 1996.

U.S. Department of State. Human Rights Reports. <http://www.state.gov/g/drl/hr/& #x003E;.

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