Volha Alyaksandrauna Harbunova () is a Belarusian

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and Entitlement (fair division), entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st c ...

organiser and trainer who was appointed Representative for Social Issues in the Belarusian United Transitional Cabinet on 26 December 2022. Harbunova was detained on 9 November 2021 and released to a sentence of three years of

house arrest House arrest (also called home confinement, or nowadays electronic monitoring) is a legal measure where a person is required to remain at their residence under supervision, typically as an alternative to imprisonment. The person is confined b ...

on 6 May 2022 in relation to women's rights marches held in 2020. She escaped from Belarus in 2022, prior to her nomination to the United Transitional Cabinet.

Birth and youth

Volha Harbunova was born on .

Women's rights training

Harbunova worked for the non-governmental organization Radislava, an organisation created in 2002 by and for survivors of

violence against women Violence against women (VAW), also known as gender-based violence (GBV) or sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), violent, violence primarily committed by Man, men or boys against woman, women or girls. Such violence is often considered hat ...

, for 18 years as a psychologist and as a leader of the organisation. She trained police officials and officials from welfare and health care administrations in supporting the victims of family violence. Harbunova introduced the

One Billion Rising One Billion Rising is a global campaign, founded by Eve Ensler, to end rape and sexual violence against women. It was started in 2012 as part of the V-Day movement. The "billion" refers to the UN statistic that one in three women will be raped ...

campaign into Belarus in 2016. She created ''Norma Cafe'', a

social enterprise A social enterprise is an organization that applies commercial strategies to maximize improvements in financial, social and environmental well-being. This may include maximizing social impact alongside profits for co-owners. Social enterprises ha ...

and cultural centre for providing training and employment for women. Harbunova's activism includes support for the

LGBT community The LGBTQ community (also known as the LGBT, LGBT+, LGBTQ+, LGBTQIA, LGBTQIA+, or queer community) comprises LGBTQ people, LGBTQ individuals united by LGBTQ culture, a common culture and LGBTQ movements, social movements. These Community, comm ...

Detention

Harbunova was detained in

Okrestina Okrestina Detention Centre, Akrestsina Detention Centre, officially, the Criminal Detention Centre of the Minsk Executive Committee’s Main Internal Affairs Directorate (, ), is a pre-trial detention centre in Minsk, Belarus. The prison is know ...

on 9 November 2021 in relation to women's rights marches that took place in mid 2020. She carried out a

hunger strike A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance where participants fasting, fast as an act of political protest, usually with the objective of achieving a specific goal, such as a policy change. Hunger strikers that do not take fluids are ...

in protest against her detention and conditions of detention. Within a fortnight, prison authorities responded by providing her with a mattress to sleep on, medical necessities and letting her send and receive mail. Harbunova stopped her hunger strike. She was designated by the Belarusian authorities as a prisoner "inclined to extremism and other destructive actions".

Index on Censorship Index on Censorship is an organisation campaigning for freedom of expression. It produces a quarterly magazine of the same name from London. It is directed by the non-profit-making Writers and Scholars International, Ltd (WSI) in association wit ...

published some of Harbunova's letter sent to a friend during her detention. Charges against Harbunova were laid under Parts 1 and 2 of Article 342 and Parts 1, 2 and 3 of Article 293 of the

Criminal Code of Belarus The Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus ( — КК РБ K RB — УК РБ K RB contains the fundamental laws to announce what is considered illegal to perform inside Belarus. Passed in 1999, several of these laws were carried over from law ...

. The case was handled by judge Siarhei Shatsila. On 6 May 2022, Harbunova was found guilty of the "organization and preparation of actions that grossly violate public order" under Part 1 of Article 342. She was sentenced to three years of

. Harbunova escaped from Belarus in 2022.

United Transitional Cabinet

On 26 December 2022, Harbunova was appointed Representative for Social Issues in the United Transitional Cabinet, the government-in-exile claiming to be the ''de jure'' government of Belarus, based on the argument that

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya Sviatlana Hieorhiyeuna Tsikhanouskaya (; born 11 September 1982) is a Belarusian political activist. After standing as a candidate in the 2020 presidential election against the president Alexander Lukashenko, she has led the political opposit ...

was the likely real winner of 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 ...

. Harbunova's role would involve legal, social, psychological and humanitarian assistance and helping to develop the position of human rights

ombudsman An ombudsman ( , also ) is a government employee who investigates and tries to resolve complaints, usually through recommendations (binding or not) or mediation. They are usually appointed by the government or by parliament (often with a sign ...

Awards

In 2022, Harbunova was given

Front Line Defenders Front Line Defenders, or The International Foundation for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, is an Irish-based human rights organisation founded in Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland in 2001 to protect those who work non-violently to uph ...

' ''Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk''. The announcement of the award was delayed until December 2022 for security reasons, since Harbunova was still in Belarus during the regular award ceremony on 27 May 2022. The award was formally presented on 9 December in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

. Andrew Anderson of Front Line Defenders described the award as recognising Harbunova for "her longstanding efforts to fight for the human rights of women and children in Belarus".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harbunova, Volha Living people Belarusian human rights activists Belarusian women activists Belarusian women in politics Political prisoners according to Viasna Human Rights Centre Recipients of the International Women of Courage Award 1981 births