Meeting to discuss law and order in Belarus

Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko hosted a government meeting to discuss law and order in Belarus on 19 April.

Attending the meeting were heads of government bodies, governors, prosecutors of all regions and Minsk, Investigative Committee, Department of Internal Affairs and the Emergencies Ministry.

The participants of the meeting discussed the crime situation, efforts to combat extremism, terrorism and drug trafficking, measures to prevent fatalities in fires, and also prevention of offenses involving minors.

“The topic of today's meeting was announced a long time ago. This is probably the first time we are meeting in such a composition to consider the issue in question, because there was a rotation of the heads of the law enforcement and other government agencies following the presidential election,” said Aleksandr Lukashenko.

According to the president, the law and order is not just about the crime situation in the country. It is about compliance with the law in all the areas of life. "I reiterated many times before, during and after the referendum that we need to learn to live by the law. I mean not by directives, presidential decrees and explanations where to go and how to do anything, but to live by the law. We need this if we want to keep peace and concord in our country. Law comes first,” the head of state said.

In his words, if we take crime statistics, the situation looks good and has positive trends. The number of criminal offenses has decreased by half over the past decade and contracted more than twice since 2007 to 87,000 crimes, Aleksandr Lukashenko said. The level of crime in Belarus is lower than the average for the CIS countries. The number of people killed by unlawful attacks has decreased by some 40%.

“The overall positive dynamics however is no reason for complacency. Last year there were factors that exacerbated the negative trends, and I would like to draw your attention to this. I would like to point out that we need no momentary response, protection of narrow interests according to the principle of shifting responsibility, no paperwork, but real coordinated actions of government bodies,” the president stressed.

That is why, the head of state said, invited to the meeting were not only law enforcement agencies, but also heads of state administration bodies and representatives of the local vertical of power.

“Yesterday I asked the head of the Belarus President Administration to tell you all to be prepared to speak on the matter. I do not want today's meeting to be just a gathering to listen to reports. Of course, reports are important, but we need to look forward and see how we live and work, point out the shortcomings and take a critical look at our work,” the Belarusian leader added. “That is why here are governors, ministers and the prime minister who will certainly voice their criticism of the law enforcement bodies and say what else needs to be done in the current difficult conditions for the development of the independent state.”