‘Parasite’ To Officials: I Am Engaged In Economy

A Vitsebsk resident demands his personal data should be excluded from the notorious “database of parasites.”

Siarhei Polin from Vitsebsk complained to the Vitsebsk city executive committee that his personal data got into the “database of parasites”, the Vitsebsk Spring writes.

He believes that by doing so the authorities violate his right to free choice of classes and the right not to be subjected to forced labor and discrimination. What does the city executive committee say then?

In his complaint, Siarhei Polin expressed the opinion that the decree on “parasites” contains vague wording, and therefore the persons it concerns may interpret its norms ambiguously.

“I am engaged in the economy...”

The man explained in the complaint that the economy is a set of relations taking shape in the system of production, distribution, exchange and consumption. So, to participate in the economy, it is enough to be a consumer of goods and services, a payer of government fees and duties.

“In other words, regardless of my employment, I am “engaged in the economy”, because I constantly pay indirect taxes when I buy goods and services, or use mobile communications,” stated in the complaint.

The Vitsebsk dweller also recalled that, according to Article 41 of the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus, labor in our country is a right, and not an obligation of a citizen. And that coercion to work is possible only by a court sentence or in times of emergency and martial law.

The Constitution does not provide for such a term as “able-bodied citizens who are not engaged in the economy.”

“I don’t understand for what purpose in this particular case they restrict the right to choose the type of occupation, the right not to be subjected to forced labor and prohibited discrimination in the sense of Parts 1 and 4 of Article 41 of the Constitution, Article 8 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Article 2 of the ILO Convention #29 on Forced and Compulsory Labor.”

Siarhei Polin asked to recognize the actions of the “commission on facilitation of the employment of the population” of the Kastrychnitski district of Vitsebsk illegal and oblige the commission to exclude his personal data from the list of “able-bodied citizens not engaged in the economy”. He also proposed to petition to the Supreme Court to apply to the Constitutional Court in the prescribed manner for declaring the decree of January 1, 2019 unconstitutional.

City executive committee: we have no relevant authorizations

First Deputy Chairman of the Vitsebsk city executive committee Valiantsin Tsviatkou, in response to the complaint, reminds us that, according to the decree on “parasites,” the personal data of citizens is collected and processed without their written consent.

He reports that the bodies authorized to submit proposals on the verification of the constitutionality of normative legal acts to the Constitutional Court are determined by the Law of the Republic of Belarus of January 8, 2014 #124-3 “On constitutional proceedings”.

“The city executive committee is not authorized to assess the legality of normative acts and to make proposals for checking their constitutionality,” writes Tsviatkou.

“You have the right to submit to the commission the documents confirming the illegality of the inclusion of your personal data in the database of able-bodied citizens who are not engaged in the economy,” the response says.

Siarhei Polin calls the answer to his complaint a “formal reply” and says that if he receives a “parasite utility bill” in March, he will sue the state.