Paul Goble
Staunton, July 1 - After the Belarusian political crisis of 2020, Alyaksandr Lukashenka liquidated not only public organizations devoted to political issues but also those which were helping Belarusians with other problems. Among those suppressed were groups that had been helping victims of domestic abuse.
As a result, researcher Tatyana Handel says, many of those suffering from this widespread plague no longer can get the help they need and had been receiving from NGOs because they are reluctant to turn to government agencies (dekoder.org/ru/article/belarus_zhenschiny_nasilie_pomosch/).
Some Belarusian activists whose NGOs Lukashenka has suppressed have created online resources, but these often lack the kind of direct human support that the NGOs had provided and thus do not represent an adequate replacement, despite the claims of the supporters of the Lukashenka regime.
Since 2020, the Belarusian dictator has closed more than 2,000 NGOs of all kinds, including shelters and counseling centers for women. Those who evaluate Lukashenka’s regime and focus on the release of political prisoners alone typically fail to take this broader impact of his repressions into account.
His repressive moves hit far more than just those suffering abuse in the home, but this is a group of people who seldom attract the attention political prisoners do and yet whose victimization is equally worthy of attention and condemnation. That seldom happens, but it very much should.
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