Belarus Brands Mentally Ill as ‘Social Parasites’ in Flawed Crackdown

Belarusian authorities have been erroneously adding citizens with mental illnesses to official lists of so-called “social parasites,” a controversial Soviet-era label revived by President Alexander Lukashenko to stigmatize the unemployed. The country’s Prosecutor General’s Office recently exposed these violations, revealing a deeply flawed system that penalizes the vulnerable while failing to address its intended targets.

An official investigation found that local commissions, tasked with enforcing the policy, were incorrectly classifying individuals who are legally exempt from the “parasite” designation due to chronic or prolonged mental health disorders. At the same time, efforts to compel employment for individuals with alcohol dependency or a history of minor offenses have been described as purely formal and ineffective. In one striking example from the Polotsk district, commissions and police exchanged paperwork regarding 722 such individuals, but only 72 were ultimately compelled to attend employment meetings.

These revelations surface as top officials intensify their campaign to force jobless citizens into the workforce. During a recent high-level meeting in the Minsk region, Natalya Kochanova, the Head of the Council of the Republic, urged local leaders to find new ways to “motivate” the unemployed. She argued that Belarus provides extensive social guarantees, perhaps unmatched by any other country, and that citizens must work to deserve them.

In a controversial comparison, Kochanova pointed to Uzbekistan, where she claimed a million children are born annually without the provision of a three-year maternity leave, to emphasize that Belarus’s social package should be earned. “People must understand: to live normally, you need to work and raise a new young generation of Belarusians,” she stated. However, she also introduced confusion by suggesting that those tending their own gardens might not be considered parasites, leaving officials with ambiguous instructions.

The regional governor, Alexey Kushnarenko, echoed the sentiment, lamenting that not all unemployed citizens are actively seeking work. He framed the issue as a problem of “shadow employment, tax evasion, and social dependency,” stressing that conscientious workers should not have to support the so-called idlers. Despite an influx of foreign labor, he emphasized that the state’s priority remains employing its own citizens.

The prosecutor’s report starkly contrasts with this harsh rhetoric, highlighting a bureaucratic breakdown where those in genuine need of medical assistance are punished, while the commissions responsible for coordinating employment remain largely ineffective. The focus on formal list-making has led to grave errors, undermining the stated goals of the policy and causing harm to a vulnerable segment of the population.