Belarus Solidarity Foundation BYSOL is a non-profit organization established on August 14, 2020, as a response to violence that happened in Belarus after the

2020 Belarusian presidential election Presidential elections were held in Belarus on Sunday, 9 August 2020. Early voting began on 4 August and ran until 8 August. Incumbent Alexander Lukashenko was announced by the Central Election Commission of Belarus, Central Election Commissi ...

. BYSOL is aimed at raising funds to provide financial aid to victims of repression in Belarus.

History

BYSOL was founded by Belarusians who were forced to leave the country because of the threat of repression. Its first office was located in

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

while the organization was registered in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. Now, the organization consists of about 15 members, and the majority of them are located in Vilnius, Lithuania. After the team moved to Lithuania, the company was also registered there. On December 3, 2021, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Belarus recognized the BYSOL Foundation as an extremist group. Creation of an extremist group or participation in it is a criminal offence in Belarus.

Activity

Nowadays, BYSOL has four main assistance programs: support of courtyard initiatives, emergency relocation, support the families of political prisoners and helping those fired for political reasons. The Fund also provides an opportunity to start a personal fundraiser on the website. BYSOL also starts situational campaigns, for example, BYSOL raised funds to help veterans of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, when the Belarusian government refused to pay pensioners the required annual remuneration in honor of

Victory Day Victory Day is a commonly used name for public holidays in various countries, where it commemorates a nation's triumph over a hostile force in a war or the liberation of a country from hostile occupation. In many cases, multiple countries may ob ...

, and children whose parents are political prisoners, to cover their school expenses. In 2020, BYSOL raised €2.9 million to support those fired for political reasons, striking factories, and people forced to relocate. As for August 7, 2021, BYSOL together with an organization called BY_help have raised about $7.8m to support Belarusians. After the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

, BYSOL focused specifically on helping evacuate Belarusian political refugees from Ukraine. For the start of school in 2022, the Belarus Solidarity Foundation, together with the fund "A Country to Live In", the Belarusian community "RAZAM" e.V., the Dissidentby initiative and the Littouwin

Lions Club Lions Clubs International, is an international service organization, currently headquartered in Oak Brook, Illinois. , it had over 46,000 local clubs and more than 1.4 million members (including the youth wing Leo clubs, Leo) in more than 200 ge ...

, organized a collection campaign to pay for school supplies for the children of political prisoners.

Fundraising methods

BYSOL uses a variety of fundraising methods. This includes donations and grants. The methods by which the organization transfers money to Belarus remain secret.

Facts

The Belarusian General Prosecutor's Office called covering the activity of BYSOL in their articles is one of the reasons for blocking the Independent Belarus media website

TUT.BY Tut.By was an independent news, media and service internet portal, one of the five most popular websites in Belarus, operating predominantly in Russian and partially in Belarusian languages, and the most popular news web portal in the country. A ...

External links

Official website

Facebook page of BYSOL

References

{{Belarusian opposition Belarusian opposition Non-profit organizations based in Lithuania