A/HRC/44/55 per cent of working-age persons with disabilities in Belarus are employed. 70 Moreover, medical commissions assessing disabilities take restrictive approaches. For instance, the Special Rapporteur was informed about the case of a person with a mental health condition who, despite being able to do physical work, was not granted permission to work at a factory where she had received an offer for employment. Such practices add to the vulnerability of persons with disabilities and prevent them from making a meaningful contribution to the economic, social and cultural development of the communities they live in. Roma 71. The Roma community continues to face discrimination in access to the labour market. There are reports that Roma applicants who have sufficient educational and professional qualifications have been denied jobs, allegedly owing to strongly rooted stereotypical perceptions that are frequently reinforced by the media and the authorities. 71 Such practices further stigmatize the Roma community, resulting in exclusion, extreme poverty and social isolation. Forced labour 72. According to the Constitution and Criminal Code of Belarus, forced labour is prohibited. Article 42 of the Constitution of Belarus also guarantees a minimum wage and equal remuneration for the work performed. However, certain elements of forced labour remain within the legislation and policies of Belarus. The Human Rights Committee reiterated its concern over such practices in its concluding observations on the fifth periodic report of Belarus in 2018 (CCPR/C/BLR/CO/5). Regrettably, these concerns have not yet been addressed by the Government. 73. The Special Rapporteur notes that forced labour is applied systematically in Belarus and disproportionally targets vulnerable categories of people, including employees of Stateowned enterprises and administrations, students, people held in so-called labour treatment centres, prisoners and army conscripts. According to available information, approximately 40,000 people are subjected to occasional or partial forced labour in Belarus.72 74. The Special Rapporteur reiterates the concern that the majority of persons working in public service, who are especially vulnerable to forced labour, have short-term labour contracts that subject workers to pressure and self-censorship, and that effectively discourage any criticism of established labour practices.73 75. Some of the frequently used practices of forced labour are the obligation to participate in harvesting and in street-cleaning activities ahead of public national holiday ceremonies. On 20 April 2019, thousands of people were strongly encouraged by the Government to participate in the republican subbotnik (term used to describe the day devoted for cleaning activities). In Minsk alone, 700,000 people took part in subbotnik activities on that day. 76. One of the vulnerable categories of people systematically subjected to forced labour are people held in detention facilities. According to article 100 of the Criminal Law Enforcement Code of Belarus of 11 January 2000, all persons deprived of their liberty are entitled to receive remuneration for their work, which shall not be lower than the set minimum wage in Belarus. The official minimum wage rate in Belarus as of January 2020 is 375 Belarusian roubles per month ($177). Meanwhile, according to information received, prisoners’ wages in different penal colonies vary from 1 to 300 Belarusian roubles per month. Most testimonies seem to indicate that the average monthly wage of a prisoner in Belarus is around 25 Belarusian roubles ($10). Prisoners and people held in so-called labour therapy centres are especially vulnerable since they cannot choose the work they 70 71 72 73 See Aliaksandr Audzevich, “Creating inclusive workplaces for people with disabilities in Belarus”, 28 November 2019. See https://belsat.eu/ru/programs/kak-zhivut-v-belarusi-romy/ (in Russian). See https://matuli.org/2840 (in Russian). A/HRC/23/52, paras. 103–107; and A/HRC/32/48, para. 119. 15