Establishment details

The history of the Department for Humanitarian Activities of the Property Management Directorate of the President of the Republic of Belarus dates back to June 9, 1997, when Presidential Decree No. 330 founded the Department for Humanitarian Assistance under the President of the Republic of Belarus (hereinafter referred to as the Department) with a view to improving the activity related to the implementation of humanitarian programs.

The area of responsibility of the Department included:

• coordination of the activities of all legal entities and individuals on implementation of humanitarian programs, including children’s recuperation abroad;
• issuing licenses for activities related to children’s recuperation and receiving humanitarian aid;
• preparing proposals for improving the humanitarian assistance legislation, disseminating information about implementation of humanitarian programs.

Since being established, the Department implemented activities on formation of the unified system for registering the receipt and distribution of humanitarian aid, centralized database of state, public, religious organizations, foundations, foreign organizations providing charitable assistance including children’s recuperation abroad, as well as creating favorable conditions for the provision of humanitarian charitable assistance to the Republic of Belarus. To this end, the Department was involved in the development of instruments regulating the receipt of humanitarian aid and children’s recuperation abroad, organized and held meetings with international public foundations representatives, participated in international conferences on implementing humanitarian programs.
In addition, the Department coordinated the activities of state agencies and organizations of the Republic of Belarus on providing assistance to low-income citizens, large families, disabled people, as well as citizens affected by the Chernobyl accident.

Pursuant to Presidential Decree No. 198 of April 19, 2000, the Department for Humanitarian Assistance under the President of the Republic of Belarus was renamed into the Department for Humanitarian Activities under the President of the Republic of Belarus (hereinafter referred to as the Department) and extra functions were given to the Department for regulation, oversight and methodological support of the activities of authorized bodies, commissions for organization of accounting, storage, evaluation and sale of property detained, arrested, confiscated or otherwise forfeited, under the regional executive committees and the Minsk City Executive Committee.

As per Regulations on the Department for Humanitarian Activities under the President of the Republic of Belarus adopted by Presidential Decree No. 198 of April 19, 2000, the Department was responsible for the implementation of state policy in the field of humanitarian activities of legal entities and individuals of the Republic of Belarus, as well as managing the organization of accounting, storage and sale of assets detained, arrested, confiscated or otherwise forfeited.

Following the increased scope of functions of the Department, its structure also changed. To address operational concerns of working with assets forfeited, regional offices of the Department were established at Brest, Vitebsk, Gomel, Grodno, Minsk, Mogilev Regional Executive Committees and the Minsk City Executive Committee, whose principal purpose was to coordinate the activities of local government bodies authorized in accordance with the legislation to seize, arrest, confiscate or otherwise return assets to State.

The Decree of the President of the Republic of Belarus No. 660 of November 13, 2001 on certain issues of the Property Management Directorate of the President of the Republic of Belarus abrogated Presidential Decrees No. 330 of June 9, 1997 on establishing the Department for Humanitarian Assistance under the President of the Republic of Belarus and No. 198 of April 19, 2000 about the Department for Humanitarian Activities under the President of the Republic of Belarus, and founded the Department for Humanitarian Activities of the Property Management Directorate of the President of the Republic of Belarus being a structural unit of the Property Management Directorate of the President of the Republic of Belarus with the legal entity rights.