Związek Polaków na Białorusi, siedziba w Grodnie

The Union of Poles in Belarus ( pl, Związek Polaków na Białorusi, be, Саюз палякаў Беларусі, ''Sajuz paliakaŭ Bielarusi'') is an organisation located in

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

. The group, which has a membership of 20,000 people, represents the

Polish minority in Belarus The Polish minority in Belarus numbers officially 288,000 according to 2019 census.. Listing total population of Belarus with population by age and sex, marital status, education, nationality, language and livelihood ("Общая числен� ...

, numbering about 300,000 Statistics from belstat.gov.by (бюллетень). See page 22.
'' RAR

data compression In information theory, data compression, source coding, or bit-rate reduction is the process of encoding information using fewer bits than the original representation. Any particular compression is either lossy or lossless. Lossless compressio ...

of 171.5KB file''. Listing total population of Belarus with population by age and sex, marital status, education, nationality, language and livelihood ("Общая численность населения; численность населения по возрасту и полу, состоянию в браке, уровню образования, национальностям, языку, источникам средств к существованию") it forms the second largest ethnic minority in the country after the Russians, at 3.1% of the total population. An estimated 180,905 Belarusian Poles live in large agglomerations and 113,644 in smaller settlements, with the number of women exceeding the number of men by about 33,000., as per official data (and much higher according to unofficial estimates). Lately, the group has received international attention due to the Belarusian Government cracking down on the group and their activities. The leader of Belarus,

Alexander Lukashenko Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko (as transliterated from Russian; also transliterated from Belarusian as Alyaksand(a)r Ryhoravich Lukashenka;, ; rus, Александр Григорьевич Лукашенко, Aleksandr Grigoryevich Luk ...

, has accused

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

and the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

of trying to use the group to create an

uprising Rebellion, uprising, or insurrection is a refusal of obedience or order. It refers to the open resistance against the orders of an established authority. A rebellion originates from a sentiment of indignation and disapproval of a situation and ...

similar to what took place in

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

and

Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan,, pronounced or the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and the People's Republic of China to the ea ...

. Since 2005, there are two groups using the above name. The first, is that led by

Andżelika Borys Andżelika Czesławowna Borys ( be, Анжаліка Борыс; born 14 October 1973) is a Polish activist in Belarus. She was born in Grabyani - Hrodna district. She is the leader of the Union of Poles in Belarus. Borys competed in bowling in ...

which is prohibited by Belarusian government. The second, has the support of the Belarusian government, and is led by Stanisław Siemaszko.

References

External links

Bordering on madness:Belarus mistreats its Polish minority, The Economist, Jun 16th 2005

* [http://www.belarusembassy.org/humanitarian/union_of_poles_in_belarus.htm Embassy of Belarus in the USA - On State Policy of the Republic of Belarus in the Sphere of Interethnic Relations - Specifics of the Developments Around the «Union of Poles in Belarus»]
The Union Of Poles Mistreated In Belarus
Belarus–Poland relations Polish culture Polish diaspora organizations Year of establishment missing {{Europe-org-stub