Belarus Hits ‘Parasites’ With Full-Price Utility Bills

Starting October 1, Belarus is tightening its controversial campaign against “social parasites” by hitting citizens officially listed as unemployed with full-price utility bills. This measure is the latest step in a government-led effort to eradicate unemployment, a goal personally championed by President Alexander Lukashenko who has declared that there should be “no homeless people or parasites” in the country.

The new regulations will eliminate previous exceptions for those deemed “not engaged in the economy.” Previously, if an unemployed property owner lived with other registered residents, the higher, non-subsidized utility rates were applied only proportionally. According to Anastasia Malinovskaya, an official from the Ministry of Housing and Communal Services, this will change dramatically. From October, an owner on the “parasite” list will be charged the full, “economically justified” rates for all services, including heating, hot water, and gas, across all properties they own, regardless of who else resides there. The move is seen as a way to pressure family and friends to compel unemployed individuals to find work.

This economic pressure aligns with President Lukashenko’s long-stated vision of total societal order and productivity. His admiration for China’s system, praised during a recent meeting with Xi Jinping for its “organization, discipline… where no one wanders around aimlessly,” underscores his intolerance for unemployment. The term “parasite” (tuneyadets) itself is a revival of a Soviet-era label for those who shirked what was considered a citizen’s duty to work.

Beyond financial penalties, the state employs more direct methods of coercion. Police departments regularly conduct “educational events” for the unemployed, which often culminate in their immediate dispatch to perform manual labor. Official police channels report on these activities with a sense of accomplishment. For instance, the Minsk region police reported that unemployed individuals on their register participated in “group educational activities” and were subsequently sent to assist with autumn agricultural work, such as clearing hay bales from fields. The police poeticized the effort, noting that “extra hands are needed” as autumn approaches.

Similar events are reported across the country. In the Vitebsk region, police, along with employment services, medics, and even clergy, held a meeting with unemployed citizens, after which they were put to work on public beautification projects. While these actions face no public opposition within Belarus, legal experts and human rights activists associated with the opposition argue that they are discriminatory and illegal.

Lawyer and human rights defender Leonid Sudalenko argues that the new utility tariff policy violates the principle of equality by making one citizen pay more than another for the same service based solely on employment status. “This decision is less about economics and more about politics: stimulating people to get a job by making their daily lives more expensive,” Sudalenko stated. He emphasizes a critical legal point: “The state and employers can encourage work, but they have no right to turn an unemployed person into an object of coercion.”