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Belarus: Militarisation of Minors
Militarisation of minors in Belarus has been part of the regime’s response to the 2020-2021 protests. In parallel with large-scale repression, authorities introduced a broad set of measures to ideologically indoctrinate and militarise minors as part of schooling. One of our earlier analyses touched upon the Sovietisation of Belarusian schools that have lately been mostly renamed after Soviet heroes. This trend has taken place amid an even more worrying development in the Belarusian education system: pushing minors into military activities and indoctrination with paranoia. In September 2021, in parallel with harsher repression, the regime established a new teaching position in Belarusian schools: supervisors of ‘military and patriotic upbringing’. These positions, often occupied by retired career military officers, are similar to the pre-conscription training at schools that occurred during Soviet times. By March 2023, 93 per cent of secondary schools and 52 per cent of colleges reportedly(opens in a new tab) had such a supervisor. […]