Belarusian Republican Youth Union - Criticism

Criticism

Inside of Belarus, the BRSM has been accused of using unethical methods to increase its membership. The claim, made by teachers and students in Belarus, is that members who joined the BRSM either did so by coercion or were lured by promises, which included discounts at local businesses, living in good dormitories, and assistance in finding a job after college. In 1999 it was reported that Belarusian opposition activists called the predecessor of the BRSM, the BPSM, "Lukamol" (Лукамол). The term is a combination of the words Lukashenko and Komsomol, because of the use of the youth group by Lukashenko to further his political base and his cult of personality.

Human Rights Watch, a group that monitors human rights abuses around the world, has also criticized the BPSM for limiting academic freedom on Belarusian college campuses. HRW noted in a report filed in 1999 that

although ostensibly politically neutral, the centralization of appointments of rectors and the increasingly institutionalized position occupied by the BPSM in student life have created a campus environment conducive to propagation of political orthodoxy and the squelching of independent views rather than one conducive to the open-ended inquiry and expression essential to academic excellence.

HRW also noted in the same 1999 report that members influence the entrance board to exclude candidates who use the Belarusian language as their preferred language or those who have opposing political point of views.

The United Nations has stated that Lukashenko's government has, either directly or indirectly, created non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that are used by the government as tools of publicity. The UN contends in a report released in early 2003 that the BRSM will mostly be used by President Lukashenko as a tool to recruit officials into his government. The same report also commented on how other youth NGOs are having problems with funding and that their members face expulsion from their schools, thus having to join groups like the BRSM as a last resort.