State Migration Policy of Belarus and Its Influence on Modern Diaspora (the 90s) (Galina Sergeeva)

Раздел - "Международные отношения"The article "State Migration Policy of Belarus and Its Influence on Modern Diaspora (the 90s)" analyses the legal foundation of the formation of national migration policy after independence was declared in Belarus: the Law of the Citizenship of the Republic of Belarus (October 1991, with the amendments of 1993, 1995 and 1998 on granting citizenship to certain categories of countrymen and other persons from the post-Soviet territory), the Law on the Procedure of Departure and Entry in the Republic of Belarus (in force from January 1, 1994), the Constitution of the Republic Belarus (1994), the Law on Refugees (in force from November 1995), the Law on Migrant Workers (1998) etc. Light is shed on the shaping of state regulation mechanism for migration, refugee rights protection and working migration. The state migration office set up under the State Committee for Labour and Social Security in 1993 was later, in January 1997, transformed into the Committee on Migration under the Ministry of Labour. Regional and Minsk city offices are also active. In 1998 a State programme on migration was adopted by the government. The legal right to free entry to and departure from Belarus by its citizens has been formulated in legislation as one of basic human rights. Its practical realization was determined by two opposite trends: the numerical growth of western diaspora and the reduction of the number of Belarusian countrymen on the post-Soviet territory. The flow of migrants of Belarusian extraction to the US, Israel, Germany, Australia, Canada and Poland was relatively small (more than 40,000 people in 1992—1994) but the immigration from these countries to Belarus is extremely low. After the collapse of the USSR due to a number of reasons (socio-economic, natural, ethnic etc.) Belarus admitted in 1992—1997 247 thousand people, 162 thousand of them Belarusians (46.6 %), from the territory of the former Soviet Union; whereas 195 thousand people left Belarus, including 15 thousand people in 1995—1997. In 1995—1997 only, when the process of migration decreased, Belarusian national diaspora on the post-Soviet territory was reduced by 28 thousand Belarusians. The article emphasises that Belarusian diaspora has acquired a new category: emigrants who have retained Belarusian citizenship and also temporary migrant workers including the illegal ones. Taking this into account, Belarus signed international state agreements with a number of countries on regulating migration process (Russia, Lithuania), on resolving the issues of legal and social protection of the citizens of Belarus abroad (Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Lithuania, Kazakhstan, Slovakia, Cuba); the agreements on mutual employment of their citizens (Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Mongolia). Together with a number of states Belarus has introduced into international treaties the articles on protection of rights of its countrymen (on the possibility of free retaining and development of ethnic, cultural, linguistic and religious identity). The analysis of the emigration-immigration flows shows a sizeable brain drain of qualified professionals and the enrichment of the diaspora (especially the western one) by promising, creative migrants of high ability. In connection with the intensive emigration of academic, cultural, entrepreneurial and sports elite — "the golden hands" — (mainly for economic reasons) and the appearance of first political emigrants experts forecast the reduction of working and intellectual potential of the nation and the depletion of national gene fund in near future. The article suggests real measures for resolving migration issues in collaboration with other countries. It analyses the impact of the visa policy of Belarus and other countries on the feelings of the countrymen abroad and their links with the motherland. The article also notes the positive influence of the recent migration policy of Belarus on the state of the diaspora but so far the state does not provide real sufficient guarantees of legal and social protection for Belarusians, persons of Belarusian extraction on the post-Soviet territory and for the possibility of their return and participation in the work on their native land. The article concludes that widening of the gap between the living standards of the people in Belarus and many other countries threatens with emigration growth and the reinforcement of the diaspora by creative skilled professionals requires a different level and content of the interaction between the state and society in Belarus and the citizens and countrymen of Belarus abroad