The public initiative Free Belarus Center used to help Belarusians in Ukraine.

After the war began, staff completely switched to helping refugees from Ukraine, regardless of nationality.

More than 50 evacuation buses have already left Ukraine for Poland.

They are carrying humanitarian aid back to Ukraine.

More than 3,500 people were evacuated from Ukraine to Poland

Free Belarus Center coordinator

Palina Brodzik

says it is difficult to estimate exactly how many people they evacuated.

“I think at least 3,500 people took our evacuation buses.

At first it was Kyiv, Lviv.

Today people come from the east - from the Dnieper, Kramatorsk, Zaporozhye.

These are Belarusians, Ukrainians and Nigerians - we take everyone.

Ukrainian men can also travel on our buses.

People with pets also go.

And in the opposite direction we take humanitarian aid.

Literally today we are sending several consignments of first aid kits and turnstiles to Ukraine, as well as help to women who have suffered from sexual violence, ”Palina says.

Pauline Brodick

Free Belarus Center has opened an office in Warsaw.

However, the Kiev office remains in place, the Lviv team as well.

Next week, the Free Belarus Center plans to open coworking on the basis of the Warsaw office, where activists from Belarus and Ukraine, people who need a place to work, will be able to come.

Naturally, it is free, - says Pauline.

“We are an organization that always strives to build bridges between our countries and people.

We will not work exclusively for Belarusians.

In the near future, many of our programs will be aimed at bringing Belarusians and Ukrainians closer together.

There have already been cases of discrimination against Belarusians by Ukrainians and Poles - on the grounds that Russian troops are stationed on the territory of Belarus.

And this is also one of our goals - to fight and counter this discrimination through certain actions and to show that we are actually working together shoulder to shoulder.

We want the opportunities we give to Belarusians to be available to Ukrainians as well, ”the coordinator of the Free Belarus Center explains.

"It is sometimes difficult to work with migration services"

The organization already has a lot of experience in working with refugees - it was established in September 2020, when people from Belarus began to come en masse from Belarus who suffered from repression or were in danger.

At first, the Free Belarus Center provided legal advice, provided psychological assistance, then helped with housing, clothing, food, and medical care.

"We tried to build such a step-by-step system of assistance, when a person first receives basic assistance, then he can apply for an internship program, then we can refer to some partner organizations," Pauline explains the principles of the Center.

Conferences of the Free Belarus Center in the Chernihiv House of Human Rights, which was destroyed during the war

The main problem facing refugees is legalization.

Each country has its own peculiarities in migration legislation.

It was necessary to communicate with government agencies in Ukraine, so the Free Belarus Center separately engaged in advocacy.

"This is the extension of the stay of Belarusians in Ukraine from 90 to 180 days, which was announced in late 2020 - this is our achievement (along with 10 Ukrainian human rights organizations).

Although, of course, we would like to lift all restrictions, ”Palina says.

The Free Belarus Center, along with other human rights organizations, suggested that the Ukrainian Migration Service allow Belarusians to receive temporary protection, which is currently being introduced for Ukrainians across Europe and is being given during the conflict.

“At that time, it seemed a very logical procedure, because Belarus was in an active phase of this conflict, and people could not stay safe in their country.

Otherwise they would be threatened with imprisonment.

Ukraine has not become a country that is easy to meet (unlike Poland or Lithuania).

At the opening of the exhibition on the Maidan in Kiev, August 2021

We offered the option available in Georgia - with the widest possible possibility to stay in the country for up to 364 days, and only leave for 1 day to "zero" the period of stay of foreigners.

However, in Ukraine we did not succeed.

It is sometimes difficult to work with migration services.

But relatively many Belarusians are still legalized in Ukraine, ”Palina Brodzik says.

She admits that during the work there were also fraudsters, dishonest people who wanted to take advantage of financial assistance for no reason.

“But I wouldn’t say there were a lot of them.

And they did not demotivate me.

This was such a meager number of people that it, in fact, did not affect anything.

But there were many more grateful people and people worthy of help. "

Pauline Brodick

"We have a similar story and we need to move together"

The coordinator of the Free Belarus Center lists successful projects that have been done in Ukraine: educational programs, trainings, schools for activists, accelerators for a narrower audience: for investigative journalists (in cooperation with the Belarusian Association of Journalists), accelerator for women.

Free Belarus Center has started cooperating with the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, which has become a good permanent partner.

"We launched a scholarship program for Belarusian students at the academy, Ukrainian language courses for Belarusians, in the context of meetings with Ukrainian political scientists, journalists who spoke about the history of Ukraine, especially modern history after 2014.

We have wider scholarship programs that still work, ”Palina says.

Pauline Brodick

Cultural diplomacy is also an important area.

Last year a festival of Belarusian culture was held in Kyiv, in August - a large exhibition on the Maidan to mark the anniversary of the beginning of the protests (in cooperation with the Museum of the Revolution of Dignity).

Then the exhibition went to Lviv.

“Ukrainians and Belarusians need to know more about each other.

It is very important that we maintain a relationship, that we understand how similar our history is and that we must move forward together.

After all, what will happen in Ukraine will help Belarus a lot.

There were many stereotypes and misunderstandings.

Not all Belarusians understood what happened in Ukraine in 2014.

We made "post-Maidan", "post-revolutionary" tours for Belarusians in key places of the "revolution of dignity", - says Pauline.

Free Belarus Center has a chatbot, which has received more than 5,000 calls, and a separate chatbot for psychological assistance.

Telegram channel Free Belarus Center.