A/HRC/41/52 67. Belarus legislation does not have any laws specifically protecting sexual minorities from discrimination. Article 64.9 of the Criminal Code foresees aggravating circumstances for crimes motivated by “hatred or hostility towards any social group”. However, the term “social group” is very vague and prosecutions taking into account the article in regard to members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex community are reported as rare.80 68. More generally, members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex community can find it hard to access services without discrimination. Information received indicates that such youth can face domestic violence from their parents and are afraid to access services for legal or psychological support, fearing further abuse or discrimination from the authorities. 69. The Special Rapporteur notes the resilience of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex community in the face of discrimination. After many failed attempts, the nongovernmental organization “Make Out” was finally registered in 2018. 81 Despite this positive step, a lot remains to be done at the societal level and within governmental structures to prevent and address discrimination and harassment of members of sexual minorities. Racial discrimination 70. The Special Rapporteur received information indicating that a number of issues of discrimination against Roma, raised by the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and the Human Rights Committee in their concluding observations in 2017 and 2018 respectively, remained of concern (CERD/C/BLR/CO/20-23, paras. 23–24 and CCPR/C/BLR/CO/5, paras. 17–18). In particular, racial profiling by law enforcement officers, leading to police harassment of Roma children, men and women, including repeated compulsory fingerprinting and arbitrary detention, continues to be a widespread practice across the country. 71. Information received also indicated that Roma continued to face discrimination in employment, with employers apparently rejecting qualified Roma candidates for advertised positions. Discriminatory attitudes against Roma have also been seen in public statements and social media postings. Policies that have generally worked well to ensure high rates of school attendance and literacy in the country have not appeared to be successful for the Roma community. 72. The Special Rapporteur has also been informed that some Roma do not possess identity documents, which results in a range of practical issues in their daily lives, including in their search for employment. In order to obtain citizenship, the applicant has to show a clean police record and no administrative charges for a period of one year prior to the application. That condition is difficult to fulfil in practice for members of the Roma community because they are often faced with administrative charges, including for living without identity documents.82 People living with HIV 73. The Special Rapporteur welcomes the amendment to article 157 of the Criminal Code, adopted on 19 December 2018, which removes, in the case of HIV transmission, the criminal responsibility of an HIV-positive person who had warned its partner about the risk of infection. Previously, medical staff could report such cases to the police, who would automatically initiate a criminal case. As a consequence, people living with HIV would 80 81 82 16 See Article 19, Challenging hate: Monitoring anti-LGBT “hate speech” and responses to it in Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia and Ukraine (February 2018). See https://citydog.by/post/zaden-makeout-uchrezhdenie/ (in Russian). See https://euroradio.fm/ru/cygane-v-belarusi-oni-ne-nuzhny-gosudarstvu-ili-ono-im-govorim-v-1505 (in Russian).