A Spokeswoman For The International Humanitarian Fund Explained Why The Organization Parted Ways With BYSOL And BY_Help
- 27.09.2025, 11:00
- 7,390
The funds had problems in two areas.
At the second Congress on political prisoners of Belarus in Warsaw, the head of the Norwegian Helsinki Committee and member of the board of the International Humanitarian Fund (IHF) Berit Lindeman commented on the recent high-profile scandals related to the two largest aid initiatives. She explained why BYSOL was expelled from the IHF and cooperation with BY_Help was terminated, writes "Mirror".
Berit Lindemann began by saying that working under repressive conditions creates a constant conflict between the need for security and the need for financial control. It is in these two areas that the foundations have had problems.
Talking about the BYSOL situation, she was categorical in her assessment of the actions of the foundation's co-founder Andrei Strizhak, who has been accused of harassment.
Look, sending intimate photos to 12 girls is unacceptable. We wish BYSOL as an organization handled this situation better. We were prepared for BYSOL to continue with the Foundation, but without Andrei Strizhak in a leadership position. They tried to do that in the beginning, but Strizhak didn't agree, and it ended up the way it ended up. I'm sorry, they had volunteers and activists who were doing a wonderful job, but this is how it turned out," Lindeman said.
We'll remind you that on September 24, BYSOL announced that Andrei Strizhak would remain at the foundation for a six-month probationary period as a consultant, but was removed from all management, representative and founding functions. After this decision, three people left the team of the foundation. On September 26, it was reported that BYSOL was unanimously removed from the IYF.
The problems with the BY_Help initiative, according to Lindemann, lay on a different plane - security and documentation.
- You all know that things didn't go smoothly with BY_Help. It was very frustrating to see that their documentation was out of order and we couldn't continue to fund them. One of the reasons why they were not allowed to continue working within the framework of the Fund was our dissatisfaction with their security measures," she explained.
It became known earlier that in the summer of 2024, law enforcers gained access to the database of aid recipients from one of the BY_Help volunteers in Belarus. This led to the detention and prosecution of more than 50 people. Following this, the Norwegian Helsinki Committee conducted an investigation that revealed serious problems with BY_Help's documentation, financial reporting and security protocols. In July 2025, the initiative announced its withdrawal from the IYF.
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