On December 10, the People’s Embassies of Belarus mark their fifth anniversary. To celebrate this milestone, we answer the main questions about the project.
1) What are the People’s Embassies?
The People’s Embassies of Belarus are a network of democratic representations abroad, created by Belarusians for Belarusians in 2020. They perform the functions that official consulates should provide but do not due to the regime’s policies and the closure of legal pathways for citizens.
People’s Embassies bring together activists, lawyers, volunteers, and experts who help Belarusians with documents, legal stay, safety, education, and represent the interests of the Belarusian diaspora to governments and international organizations. These are informal but widely recognized structures that have become the voice of democratic Belarus on the international stage.
Over five years, they have transformed into an effective infrastructure for the Belarusian community in exile.
2) What do they do? How do they help Belarusians?
People’s Embassies:
- Provide assistance on all issues related to documents, legal stay, and safety abroad.
- Offer consultations on expired passports, alien passports, international protection, marriages, visas, bank accounts, and legal risks.
- Support complex legal cases, prevent abuse of Interpol mechanisms, help in extradition cases, and connect Belarusians with lawyers and legal centers.
- Engage in cultural diplomacy, support political prisoners, run humanitarian initiatives, and organize diaspora meetings and volunteer projects.
Overall, they have become the first point of contact for Belarusians abroad who are left without support from official bodies.
3) Top 3 achievements we are most proud of
- The Pashpart.org project
In partnership with Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya’s Office, we launched Pashpart.org in the very first week after Decree No. 278. The platform provides information on alien passports, international protection, legal stay, a safe-travel navigator, and a map of safe countries for Belarusians.
- Replacing regime embassies
Thanks to public trust and active work, phones in Lukashenka’s embassies stay silent: Belarusians, diplomats, MPs, and organizers of international events now contact us instead. We take part in official visits and receptions, represent Belarus at protocol events, and effectively act as the country’s democratic representatives.
- Real cases of helping Belarusians
Among our most significant cases are stopped illegal deportations and extraditions – including Interpol-related cases in Italy and Slovenia; support for Belarusians in obtaining alien passports in Italy, Austria, Slovenia; and more. We have also achieved positive decisions in difficult international protection cases, such as in Sweden. We are particularly proud of our achievement in Sweden, where, thanks to the work of the People’s Embassy, Belarusians were allowed to enter into official legal marriages – including same-sex marriages – becoming a unique mechanism of protection and integration.
- The “Voices Across Borders” international solidarity movement
More than 20 countries took part, over 20 events were held, and a representative of the People’s Embassies walked 315 km as part of “Camino for Belarus.” It became the largest international solidarity action for political prisoners.
4) Do you ever have to refuse help? Why?
Sometimes we do, but only when the embassy is legally or technically limited. For example, we cannot issue national passports, legalize documents, or make decisions that belong to state authorities.
There are also cases where a request requires professional legal representation, and we redirect the person to lawyers. And sometimes people ask for actions that may put them in danger or violate the rules of the host country.
5) What challenges have the People’s Embassies faced?
The main challenge is working without diplomatic status and on a volunteer basis: resources, expert capacity, and tools for handling complex cases are often insufficient. Further difficulties include differences in national laws, bureaucracy, and the lack of unified rules for Belarusians across the EU.
Local authorities often do not understand how the People’s Embassies differ from regime-controlled institutions, and Belarusians are still frequently associated with the policies of official Minsk. After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, attitudes toward Belarusians in many countries became more cautious, requiring additional advocacy and outreach.
We also struggle in areas where legal mechanisms simply do not exist – for example, some countries do not have a legal framework to issue alien passports.
6) Are the People’s Embassies perceived as representatives of Belarus?
Yes. When we explain who we are and why we were created, the People’s Embassies are recognized as representatives of democratic Belarus and the Belarusian diaspora. In many countries, we already have established contacts with parliaments, city halls, ministries, human rights organizations, and cultural institutions. We are invited to official receptions, conferences, hearings, international meetings, and protocol events.
We are becoming a go-to source of information for governments, MPs, and the media about the situation in Belarus.
7) How many requests do the People’s Embassies receive?
The general email and the chatbot receive around 120 requests per year combined. In addition to these general inquiries, there are country-specific requests addressed to individual People’s Embassies.
The workload varies depending on the country: from 10–20 requests per year in smaller states to over 100 in countries with large Belarusian communities.
Most often, people ask about documents, international protection status, bank accounts, safety issues, migration procedures, and family-related difficulties. The number of inquiries is growing because Belarusians are losing access to official consular services and increasingly need alternative support.
8) What’s next? What are the future plans?
We intend to continue strengthening the infrastructure of Belarusian presence abroad by opening new representations, expanding our volunteer network, and launching new support programs for Belarusians.
Our key priorities include:
- expanding recognition of expired Belarusian passports in more countries,
- launching an IT platform for the Luxembourg Solutions,
- developing the capabilities of Pashpart.org so Belarusians have more tools for legalizing their stay abroad and safety.
A special part of our vision is the creation of offline embassies, or Belarusian Houses: physical spaces with room for cultural and integration events, a library, Belarusian-language courses, and, in the future, even the possibility to issue the New Belarusian Passport.
We want every country to have a place where Belarusians feel supported and part of a community.
