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  • Safe and unsafe countries for travel: List for Belarusians from Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya’s Office

    August 09, 2024

    Belarusians who are or might be persecuted face risks of extradition to Belarus when traveling abroad. Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya’s Office made a list of countries where it is safe for Belarusians to travel and countries they may want to avoid.

    Disclaimer: No such list can be exhaustive. Interpol member states continue to accept requests from Belarus. There have been several cases of people being detained in relatively safe countries. While these cases are rare, we urge Belarusians to take their safety seriously.

    Where is it safe to travel?

    ✅ EU (Greece and Cyprus are in the “gray zone”, read more below), USA, Canada, Australia, Norway, Switzerland, UK, Croatia;
    ✅ Singapore, New Zealand, Iceland.

    Which countries to avoid?

    If a Belarusian is placed on a wanted list in Belarus, they are likely to appear in both the CIS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization databases — this information is controlled by the interior ministries of these countries. The following countries and territories maintain such databases:

    ❌ Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan;
    ❌ Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, India, China;
    ❌ Unrecognized territories such as Transnistria, Abkhazia, South Ossetia, DPR, LPR, Crimea.
    ❌ Venezuela, North Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, Sri Lanka;
    ❌ Cuba, Laos, Syria, Cambodia.

    There are also countries where travel might be risky due to bilateral agreements with Belarus:

    ❌ Serbia, UAE, Thailand, Myanmar, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq.

    “Gray zones”

    Many countries fall into the so-called “gray zone”. These countries have not yet extradited people to Belarus, but this does not mean that they won’t in the future.

    It’s also essential to consider countries with bilateral legal assistance agreements with Belarus. Such agreements, for instance, have been signed with Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Türkiye, Mongolia, South Africa, Iran, and Serbia. Negotiations are ongoing with India, Hong Kong, and Egypt. Thus, these countries have a legal basis for potential extradition to Belarus.

    ⬜️ Georgia (the State Security Service of Georgia has a cooperation agreement with the Belarusian KGB);
    ⬜️ Moldova, Türkiye, Egypt, Mongolia, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Qatar, South Africa, Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, the Philippines, the Dominican Republic, Chile, Senegal, Cyprus, and Greece.

    Please note that Belarus often disguises politically motivated criminal cases as economic ones and continues to misuse Interpol’s search system for malicious purposes.

    What to do before travel to “gray zones”?

    The most important thing is to stay in touch with people who can inform your relatives and the media about detention or difficulties at the border before and during border crossings. It is advisable to have contact details for organizations you can reach out to in difficult situations or contacts within the Belarusian community in case you need the help of a local lawyer.

    Stay safe and have safe travels!

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