Repression in Belarus: Only 69 visas for politically persecuted people

The Federal Republic repeatedly promises help to politically persecuted people in Belarus. But since the new wave of repression began, it has only issued 69 humanitarian visas. The Greens call this “simply irresponsible”.

“The people of this long-suffering but proud country deserve our solidarity and support,” said Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier a few days after the fake presidential election in Belarus in August 2020. Since then, he has repeated this sentence with similar words when it comes to those who Since then, Alexander Lukashenko’s regime has suffered repression.

In February, Chancellor Angela Merkel announced an “Belarus Civil Society Action Plan” for which, according to the Federal Foreign Office, the German government intends to provide up to 21 million euros. The plan includes taking in “persecuted people and their core families” and treating traumatized victims of torture.

38 visas for politically persecuted persons

But so far only a few politically persecuted people from Belarus have found protection in Germany: Between August 1, 2020 and July 31, 2021, the Federal Ministry of the Interior, for Building and Home Affairs “issued an acceptance letter in 38 cases under section 22 sentence 2 of the Residence Act in Belarus politically persecuted people and – if any – their nuclear families “.

On this basis, the German embassy in Minsk issued 69 visas. This is what the State Secretary in the Foreign Office, Antje Leendertse, replied on September 2 to a request from Manuel Sarrazin, Member of the Green Parliament.

“Politically simply irresponsible”

Sarrazin expresses harsh criticism that, according to an agreement between the Ministry of the Interior and the Foreign Office, there is currently only a contingent of 50 humanitarian visas for politically persecuted people from Belarus: This is “shameful” in view of the ongoing wave of repression. The fact that this quota has so far only been exhausted with 38 issued visas is “politically simply irresponsible”.

“The number of political prisoners in Belarus is still increasing every day. People are still ending up in prison because they did not make it out of the country in time. Independent editorial offices and NGOs are still being searched or closed,” says Sarrazin, describing the situation in Belarus.

He expects the German government to further expand aid for politically persecuted people from Belarus. “The visa application must be organized much less bureaucratically and Germany, like Lithuania and Poland, finally become a safe haven for the Belarusian democracy movement,” said Sarrazin tagesschau.de with.

Reporters Without Borders are calling for help

The managing director of Reporters Without Borders in Germany, Christian Mihr, also pleaded for quick and unbureaucratic help. “Countries like Poland and Lithuania show that this is possible: thousands of people from Belarus have found protection there since August 2020.”

Elisabeth Chigrin from the Belarusian exile organization Razam (Joint) said that it takes a long time to apply for a humanitarian visa. As a rule, those at risk could not wait that long. However, she emphasizes that in two cases, in consultation with the German embassy in Minsk, her organization succeeded in organizing the departure in good time. In one case, a hearing was imminent at which an arrest was expected. Thanks to donations, the young man was able to receive medical treatment in Germany. In general, the members of the Belarusian diaspora gave newcomers a lot of support in settling in quickly and getting on with the authorities.

Chigrin explained in conversation with tagesschau.dethat for most of them it is not an option to enter the country on a Schengen visa, apply for asylum and then not be able to work. So far, she has not yet heard of any case from Belarus in which asylum had been granted. She hopes that the quota of humanitarian visas for the politically persecuted will be increased, because it is already foreseeable that the number of 50 will soon be reached.

In Poland, dissidents from Belarus, who are usually very well educated, are in great demand as workers and accordingly quickly receive a work permit, said Chigrin.

Poland and Lithuania issued thousands of visas

In her answer, State Secretary Leendertse also referred to Poland and Lithuania as Belarus’ direct EU neighbors. A large part of the persecuted primarily turn there. She goes on to write: “The Federal Government is continuing its support for persecuted people from Belarus and its solidarity with EU partners.”

With regard to the issuing of visas, the difference between the Federal Republic of Germany and the two EU states is considerable, as a request from the Sarrazin office revealed: Poland issued 6118 humanitarian visas between December 2020 and May of this year alone. There were also 3,938 Schengen visas and 66,620 national visas.

Lithuania, with its 2.8 million inhabitants, issued 4,979 Schengen visas and 11,541 national visas during this period. During these months, Germany only received 2,697 Schengen visas and 745 national visas for people from Belarus.

Neighboring states under pressure

Belarus is trying to put Poland, Lithuania and Latvia under massive pressure because of its support for the opposition, which is also historically justified. For weeks now, the three countries have been registering a high number of illegal border crossings by people from Asia and Africa at their borders with Belarus. The Lithuanian government accuses Lukashenko of piloting them to Belarus and sending them to the border. Border fortifications are now being built there.

The ability to fly out of the country was severely restricted at the end of May. The airline Belavia was banned from landing in the EU after Lukashenko had a Ryanair plane with blogger Roman Protassewitsch on board forced to land in Belarus. The German Lufthansa is one of the few airlines from Western Europe that currently offers Minsk flights.