Like daughter, like father
- 1.02.2010, 14:32
Belarusian officials love to throw mud at those who receive material aid from Europe and the US. However, as it turned out, the issue of grants could be close to the family of the deputy head of Lukashenka’s administration, Natalya Pyatkevich.
Propagandistic materials about Western money dissolve in the pockets of oppositional parties and the voluntary sector with is outside the control of the state, are being created month after month, they evoke response, envy, hate, hard feelings… In general, the whole bunch of contradictory emotions. Svyatlana Kalinkina, a journalist, has paid attention to strange coincidences. Her article is published by “Belarusian Partisan” website.
- We cannot even imagine the degree of with which state officials wheedle those grants out of the West, -- she writes in her blog. – Do you remember how many times Natalya Pyatkevich broke through the visa blockade of the US and reached the UN tribune to tell about problems of human trafficking, express concern over violation of women’s rights in the world (but not in Belarus, naturally), to give an account of her vision of the problems of refugees, migration, the abject and aggrieved.
She was heard of course. But the Western people have such a peculiarity that they do not work with state structures only. They need a kind of “official - public” pool for a project. Some organisation called public organisation “Belarusian movement of health workers” is often a part of the UN pools.
This movement with is not noticeable for common public is the main partner of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and a coordinator on cooperation of the Commissioner with other Belarusian public associations. There is even a Service for refugees’ consultation working under the auspices of the organisation. But there is no flow of refugees to Belarus.
There were 817 of them as of December 1, 2009.
802 as of December 1, 2008.
800 as of December 1, 2007.
796 as of December 1, 2006.
It means that over four years 21 of them have added, that is 5 a year. And I think it is highly possible that children are born in the families of those who had been registered as refugees long ago. But the work is humming! It cannot be compared to $5-10,000 of the opposition. Millions dollars as grants!
For instance, there is a project for 2 million dollars. It is called “Reinforcement of the national system of refuge of the Republic of Belarus”. It is meant for the term from 2007 to 2010. The head organisation receiving foreign grants is the Interior Ministry of Belarus. The support is also received by the following agencies:
The State Committee of Frontier Troops
The Supreme Court
The Office of Prosecutor General
The Justice Ministry
The Health Protection Ministry
The Culture Ministry
The Information Ministry
The Labour and Social Defense Ministry
Regional executive committees
Minsk city court
The court of Tsentralny district of Minsk
Higher education institutions of Belarus (the Belarusian State University, the Interior Ministry’s Academy, the Military Academy, the National Security Institute)
The Belarusian Red Cross Society
The Belarusian Movement of health Workers (BMHW)
The International public association on scientific research, informational and educational programs “Development” (Public association “Razvitiye)
The international public association “Independent Social Assistance”
“Eureka”, the centre of children and youth’s creative work of Frunzenski district of Minsk
Both the UN and the European Commission allocate money, lots of money. The aims of the project look significant, for instance: seeking long-term solutions for refugees (assistance in integration, repatriation, and relocation in third countries), granting first legal and social assistance to persons looking for asylum, and refugees. So, the Belarusian officials are working for 23 persons, spending millions of foreigners’ dollars.
You can look at details at the website of the government. By the way, turn attention to the fact that legal assistance to refugees costs 10 times as much as their professional education in our secondary and higher education institutions in Belarus.
Holding on-the-job training, trainings, study trips of Belarusian experts costs almost 6 times as many money as teaching Russian to refugees.
Or let us take another project. Signing documents on implementation of the EU - UNHCR project “Enhancing effectiveness of sharing work with migrants’ flows at the State border and inside Belarus – Phase II” has taken place in Minsk. This project is realized by the State Border Committee and the Interior Ministry of Belarus with participation of the public association “Belarusian Movement of health Workers” and “Development” public association (which is a successor of the Centre for UN studies), as well as the Belarusian Red Cross. Donors of the project, which budget is Euro 888 thousand, are the European Commission, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Migration Organisation.
The leader of this omnipresent association “Belarusian movement of health workers” which is worried by problems of foreigners much more than problems of Belarusians, is a well-known Minsk-based dentist Uladzimir Akimavich Krauchanka. By a “strange” coincidence he is a father of the main ideological fighter with “grants- suckers” Natalya Uladzimirauna Pyatkevich. The electronic directory of Belarusian NGOs still offers information that the organisation is registered in Minsk, Prytystki Street, 46. But some “strange” coincidence the same address has a dental care number 7 headed by Uladzimir Krauchanka.
“As it turned out, for about ten years my best friend lives in the house next to the dental care. To the question whether he happened to see crowds of refugees there, he was greatly surprised: “Are you crazy?” Maybe the organisation has changed the place, or maybe 5 refugees of the “annual influx” have simply vanished in the crowd, I do not know,” Svyatlana Kalinkina is surprised.
By the way, except UN refugees, Uladzimir Krauchanka is also engaged in issues of Belarusian orphans’ adoption. And it is a matter of common observation it is a very profitable business. But it is often carried on within an inch of a crime.