On April, 5 2006 the President of the Republic of Belarus signed an edict ¹ 204 “On ratifying the regulation on granting asylum to the foreign citizens and the stateless, its deprivation and other questions of residing in the Republic of Belarus of foreign citizens and the stateless”.
The edict confirms the Provisions on granting asylum to the foreign citizens and the stateless and its deprivation. The adopted Provisions secures the conditions under which foreign citizens and the stateless (further on - foreigners) are not granted citizenship. Thus, asylum is not granted to the foreigners, who might be soundly suspected of committing crimes against peace, war crimes and crimes against humanity, heinous crimes of non-political character outside Belarus prior to arriving in the country; those guilty of actions contrary to the aims and principles of the United Nations; foreigners enjoying the citizenship of the a third country where they were not persecuted for political, religious and national identity etc.
The edict ¹ 204 simplifies the procedure of granting asylum in Belarus. Thus, the necessary documents are to be submitted into the committee on the issues of citizenship under the President of the Republic of Belarus by the Ministry of Internal Affairs directly, rather than via the Council of Ministers of the republic of Belarus. Thanks to this measure the overall term of considering the question of granting asylum is cut down to thirty days.
In accordance with the new Provisions foreign citizens granted asylum in Belarus, the members of their families bear the responsibilities and enjoy the same rights as foreign citizens permanently residing in the Republic of Belarus. They are granted a permit to permanently reside in the Republic as well as a stay permit.
Besides, the institutions of citizenship deprivation and citizenship loss are introduced, the grounds for losing or being deprived of citizenship are determined as well as the mechanism of resolving such issues.
The loss and deprivation of foreigners of Belarusian citizenship are exercised by the President of the republic of Belarus.
The edict ¹ 204 corrects some normative acts regulating the issues of obligatory medical insurance of the foreigners, who stay in Belarus for a short period of time, exercising voluntary and obligatory fingerprinting registration and preventing human trafficking, as well as the regime of foreigners’ stay in the Republic of Belarus.
The edict ¹ 204 comes into force from the moment of its official publishing.
