The Minsk Forum, organised by German-Belarusian Society (dbg e.V.), is an annual platform for bringing together experts and people interested in Belarus and Belarusians from politics and active civil society. It aims at discussing pressing topics and giving ample room for exchange and networking on and for Belarus. This year’s Forum consisted of two events in Berlin on 1st and 2nd December 2024.
On Sunday, 1 December, a group of Belarusian activists from different countries (Poland, Lithuania, the United Kingdom / Scotland, Czech Republic, Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Switzerland, Norway and Germany) met at Fanprojekt Berlin to exchange their views and concerns about Belarus.
The exchange has touched upon such topics as:
- Political Prisoners
- Upcoming “elections” in Belarus
- Independent media
- The state of Belarusian democratic forces
- Ways of harnessing the potential of diasporas
- Challenges of the NGO sector
- Education
- Ways of keeping Belarus on international agenda
- Democratisation, inclusivity and defragmentation of democratic sector
- Unity between Belarusians inside the country, political prisoners and diasporas
On the second day of the event, 2 December, the main conference took place at House of Democracy and Human Rights in Berlin.
During the opening remarks by representatives of the German-Belarusian Society, the consequences of long lasting authoritarian regime of A. Lukashenka (1994 to 2020 and beyond) were discussed, building the ground for the discussion panels.
The first panel, “Global political situation in and around Belarus – EU and Germany – which consequences (should/must) follow from the presented “long lines” of Lukashenka was moderated by Gabriele Baumann (Konrad-Adenauer Foundation), joined by Jan Kantorczyk (German MFA, Head of Division – OSCE), Victoria Leukavets (Stockholm Centre for Eastern European Studies) and Alena Prikhodzka (Investigative Journalist) to discuss the following questions:
- How is the dependance of Lukashenka on Russia affecting the sanctions policy?
- Do the sanctions work and can they be more sufficient?
- What can the Council of Europe and OSCE do about Belarus?
The second panel, “Dealing with questions concerning political prisoners and upcoming Regime ”elections””, was moderated by Kryścina Šyjanok (Office of Belarus Democratic Forces in the Czech Republic).
She was joined by panelists Knut Abraham (MP CDU, “Friends of Belarus”), Irina McLean (Peoples Consulate of Belarus in Scotland), Andrej Stryzhak (BYSOL), Valery Kavaleuski (Euro-Atlantic Affairs Agency).
The main points of the discussion included:
- What the upcoming “elections” mean for Belarus and how they should be referred to by the West, Democratic Forces Exile and civic society of Belarus?
- What the upcoming elections in Germany mean to Belarus?
- The terror that is happening in Belarus can’t be called “repressions”.
- What diplomatic stepscan/should be taken in the future?
- The role of sanctions in bargaining with the Lukashenka’s regime
The final panel was moderated by Maryna Rakhley (GMF of US, Senior Office). The format invited the audience to take an active part and drive the discussion towards what concerns and ideas were present in the room.
For the closing remarks the guests were joined by Michael Nowak (German MFA, Head of Division, Russia, Belarus).