Belarus is a republic with a directly elected President and a bicameral parliament. Lower house members are elected, while members of the upper chamber are appointed by the President and elected by regional councils. Through a series of flawed referenda, manipulated elections and undemocratic laws, the President is reported to have undermined the country's democratic institutions and concentrated power in the executive branch since taking power in 1994. A referendum that failed to meet international standards has removed term limits for the presidency.

In elections in 2006 the incumbent was re-elected as President. 32 of 110 deputies in the lower house are women, as are 18 of the 56 members of the upper house. Social barriers against women are strong; men hold virtually all leadership positions. The judiciary is subject to pressure from the administration. The President appoints the chairs and 6 of 12 members each of the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court and the Supreme Economic Court.

The economy is centrally planned and most workers are employed in state industrial and agricultural sectors. Living standards remain low, and wages in the state sector are lower than the national average. The International Monetary Fund reports inflation at 20%. Unemployment was officially reported as 2.4 %, but observers believe it to be much higher. A disproportionate number of families with children live below the poverty line. A presidential edict created incentives for families to have 3 or more children, with the stated intent of increasing the population and alleviating high levels of poverty.

Members of the security forces are accused of abuses. The practice of hazing (dedovshchina) of new army recruits through physical and psychological abuse continues.

Discrimination on the basis of race or sex is not specifically prohibited in law.

Freedom of speech and of the press are restricted, and defamation of state officials can lead to internal exile, fines or jail terms. Access to government information is severely restricted, and a presidential edict broadened the amount of government material considered a state secret. Pressure on media has been exerted through the closure of newspapers. Distribution of an anti-Semitic and xenophobic newspaper resumed through a state distribution agency. Telephone and other electronic communications are monitored.

Russian ultranationalist skinhead youth groups target foreigners and citizens promoting Belarusian culture. Despite a Court ruling allowing enterprises to employ persons without a pass (propiska) or a registered address, employers face fines for employing people whose documents show their place of residence and employment are not in the same city or district.

Homophobia is widespread and harassment occurs. The highest levels of government express negative attitudes towards homosexuals. While there is no official discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS, social discrimination makes HIV-infected individuals afraid to disclose their status. The UN Development Programme reports that few medical personnel deal with HIV/AIDS patients, and HIV-infected women can give birth only at a particular department in a single hospital.

Children are required to complete 9 years of compulsory schooling, beginning at age 6. 11 years of education are possible, and the development of an additional year is in progress. NGOs and government authorities provide very different reports of what is happening in education. The quality of education is reported to be lower outside major cities. The Russian and Belarusian languages have equal legal status, but Russian remains predominant and is often the only language used in education. Some classes, such as the history and geography of Belarus, are taught in Belarusian, but most curriculum content is taught in Russian. The government insists that education is free of charge through to completion of higher education, but this is disputed by NGOs. For example, the Council of Ministers of Belarus passed a resolution that compelled parents to pay full cost for textbooks and training aids.

The government has enacted a law allowing military units to adopt and train orphans aged 14 to 16, though they may not be enrolled as servicemen while still children. They are provided with free food, clothing, housing, education, medical care and cash allowances. The children must comply with the rules of the military units where they live, wear a uniform, obey orders and join the unit upon reaching age 18. Ministry of Education data indicate that orphans and abandoned children account for 1.5% of all children.

The Minister of Education announced that all schools, state and private, are political bodies that must follow state orders and cannot be headed by opposition members. He asserted his right to appoint and dismiss the heads of private educational institutions. Following a Ministry of Education directive to all educational institutions, students who engage in unsanctioned political activity are to be expelled. The Mayor of Minsk ordered school administrators to keep their students from becoming politically active.

ECE begins at age 3 and lasts until age 6. The Net Enrolment Ratio (NER) is 92%. Of the 43,606 ECE educators (99% female), 64% are trained. The pupil teacher ratio (PTR) is 6 : 1. Authorities limit the availability of ECE in the Belarusian language.

In primary education, the NER is 90% (48% female). All students who enrol in Grade 1 reach the last year of primary education. 87% graduate and continue to secondary education. There are 26,151 primary teachers (99% female), and 99% are trained. The PTR is 15 : 1.

A 7-year secondary education programme begins at age 10. In upper secondary school 2% of students are enrolled in technical education. The NER is 87% (88% female). There are 104,999 secondary teachers (79% female). The PTR is 9 : 1.

Higher education is both state-run and private, with 15% being private. But some private institutions claim government harassment or even closure of their establishments because of their curricula. In tertiary institutions there are 507,360 students (57% female) and 42,872 educators (55% female). There are 2,428 foreign students studying in Belarus, mainly from the Arab States (882), East Asia/ Pacific (737), South and West Asia (406), Central and Eastern Europe (145) and Latin America (179). Meanwhile, 10,490 students from Belarus study abroad, mainly in the Russian Federation (6,061), Germany (1,737), Poland (1,088), France (465) and the USA (422).

Depending upon the severity of their disabilities, alternative modes of education for disabled children are provided in centres located throughout the country. Assistance is provided to help children with physical and mental disabilities integrate into traditional classrooms, though the quality of these programmes varies. A new law provides for children with disabilities to receive education at home.

Discrimination against persons with disabilities is a problem in education and other state services. Employers are prohibited from requiring a person with disabilities to work more than 7 hours a day, but this protection has proven to be a disincentive for hiring disabled persons. The government devoted considerable attention to overcoming the health effects of the Chernobyl nuclear accident; however, at the insistence of the President, the government has threatened to restrict children's rehabilitation trips abroad.

The law provides for the granting of asylum or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, and the government has established a system for providing protection to refugees. Authorities cooperate with the UNHCR and humanitarian organisations in assisting refugees from Afghanistan, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan and Ethiopia. Belarus has criticised the European Union for failing to offer any help in dealing with the sudden flow of migrants trying to reach Europe without proper documents. Their number in Belarus has more than doubled since Latvia, Lithuania and Poland joined the EU. Signatories to the Convention are required to provide education to refugee children.

81% of the inhabitants of Belarus are considered to be Belarusians. The remaining 19% of the population is made up of 140 nationalities, including Russians, Poles, Ukrainians, Jews and Roma. Most minorities have been assimilated into society, but not the Roma. Discrimination against the almost 70,000 Roma in employment and education is common. Roma unemployment is cited at 93%. Roma children struggle in the school system because, though they speak Romani and Belarusian, most Belarus schools use Russian as the language of instruction. It takes 2 to 3 years for Roma students to catch up with their peers in school, where they are assumed to be lazy or mentally incompetent though their difficulties result from language.

Roma are able to receive higher education in the country's few private educational institutions but are often denied access to higher education in state universities. The Roma Lawyer's Group has petitioned the government to permit the establishment of a public Roma school in Minsk, but have not yet received a response.

All educational institutions are required to teach, and all students to study, the official state ideology. The Ministry of Education requires higher education establishments, private or state, to adhere to state standards concerning ideology. A failure to adhere to the standards for teaching ideology resulted in the closure of the European Humanities University (EHU) and the Belarusian National Humanities Lyceum. The President declared that the schools sought to educate a national elite that would turn the country to the West.

Students participating in demonstrations considered by authorities to be in opposition to the government are harassed. Students are under pressure to join the Belarusian Republican Youth Movement (BRYM) to receive benefits like rooms in dormitories.

Members of opposition groups were expelled from institutions of higher education for their political activities. 3 historians whose research was considered anti-Soviet or anti-Russian were dismissed by the National Academy of Sciences. Every school is required to have an ideological officer on its staff. The Vice-Rector and the Administrator for Ideology at Baranovichi State University were fired for failing to prevent students from performing a skit mocking the President. Academic freedom is severely curtailed.

Equal pay for work of equal value is legislated but not enforced. Women have fewer opportunities for advancement to management and hold only 4 high-level government positions. Women's level of education is higher than that of men 58% of women workers have postsecondary education and 66% have a specialised secondary education but a disproportionate number of women are unemployed. Women have equal rights in property ownership and inheritance.

A Belarusian delegation to the Commission on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) reported that 30% of women suffer domestic violence. Police are beginning to enforce laws against domestic violence and the courts to impose sentences, but there is a continuing reluctance to report domestic violence for fear of reprisal and social stigma.

Belarus is a country of origin and of transit for women and children trafficked for sexual exploitation and forced labour. Women and girls under age 25 are at particular risk of trafficking due to a lack of economic opportunity in the country. The government has made some effort to combat trafficking.

The minimum age for employment is 16, but a child aged 14 can work with the written consent of a parent or legal guardian. The Prosecutor General's office is said to enforce this law effectively. Students are required to participate in potato harvesting.

A law allows military units to adopt and train orphans aged 14 to 16. Free food, clothing, housing, education, medical care and cash allowances are provided. The children may not be enrolled as servicemen while still minors, but they must comply with the rules of the military units where they live, wear a uniform, obey orders and join the unit upon reaching age 18. Forced or compulsory labour by children is illegal, except in cases of emergency or martial law; however, there are reports that such practices occur.

Workers have the right to form and join trade unions, except for state security and military personnel. However, these rights are not respected in practice. The adoption of a fixed-term contract system is reported, involving conversion of all government employees to short-term contracts and the non-extension of employment contracts for trade union activists. In this system, employment contracts can be signed for periods up to 5 years, but only a single major employer signed contracts of that length; most contracts were for terms of 6 months or 1 year. Reports indicate that the government used the fixed-term contract system to dismiss independent union members and opposition political activists.

An International Labour Organisation (ILO) Commission of Inquiry criticised the government for its interference in trade union activity. The ILO Standards Committee included Belarus in a special paragraph on trade union violations for a third consecutive year and urged the government to address the ILO recommendations to stop interfering in unions. The ILO concluded that the government had violated the Conventions 87 and 98 on Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise and the Right to Organise and Bargain Collectively.

The Ministry of the Economy responded by cancelling the ILO's technical assistance project with unions. The reason cited was the exclusion of the Federation of Trade Unions of Belarus (FTUB) from project activities, despite the active involvement of local unions affiliated with the FTUB. Thus the rights to organise and to bargain collectively have been suspended arbitrarily. The Constitution provides for the right to strike, but tight government control limits this right in practice.

A monthly minimum wage of US$55 (118,000 Belarusian rubles) does not provide a decent standard of living for a worker and a family. Average wages improved during the year from approximately $126 (264,000 Belarusian rubles) to $175 (380,000 Belarusian rubles) a month. The work week is set at 40 hours a week. Factories often require workers to take unpaid leave.