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21.10-27.10.2013

01

Statistics of Our HouseDuring the week of October 14 - 20, 2013 we:

• published 36 articles on the website of Our House• published 3 materials about Our House’s activity in mass media• wrote 2 letters and appeals• received 1 answer from state officials• collected 152 signatures in support of our appeals.

Euro Renovation of Belarus: For the Better Future!

The purpose of The Civil Campaign Our House is that all Belarusians become owners of our common home Belarus. All campaigns of Our House are aimed at guaranteeing best performance of state authorities, ensuring transparency in public budgeting for everybody, impacting processes inside Belarus and creating equal opportunities for all people.

The Civil Campaign Our House has been registered in the Czech Republic as The International Center of Civil Initiatives Our House.

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EuRO REnOvaTIOn OF BElaRuS

Euro Renovation of Belarus: a Road Map to the Better life

On august 14, 2013 The Civil Campaign Our House launched a national program Euro Renovation of Belarus.

Generally speaking, people hardly noticed 18 years during which the country’s leadership has been unsuccessfully trying to instill the “ideology of the Belarusian state.” Despite developed and implemented training courses, a pseudoscientific product still “has not captured the masses,” causing rejection by voters and sarcasm from independent scientists. As a well-known Moscow political analyst Andrei Suzdaltsev comments, “lukashism is simply a very controversial blend of authoritarianism, populism, primitive socialism, provincial arrogance, anti-globalization, chauvinism, ethnic and governmental Belarusian nationalism and Russo-phobia.” Cannot the Belarusian society offer a decent alternative? Of course, it can!A rational pursuit of a mutually beneficial cooperation between the West and the East, maximum openness to accept the most innovative technologies and investments can be a logical alternative to a provincial swagger and fencing off the own farm from the rest of the world. Ideologically, the campaign Euro Renovation of Belarus is based on willingness of the Belarusian people “to become Europeans” in terms of culture and prosperity, make use of all the best from the West and the East.

At first glance, it sounds tempting and easy. But only children believe in a fairy tale that one morning you can wake up in an ideal Belarus, not having made any effort. Responsible adults understand how difficult can be a “road map” for a better life.

Three stages in Euro Renovation of Belarus:

- defining those standards or features that determine quality of life in Belarus. In Belarus, such standards exist in all areas, starting from housing to medicine;- comparing Belarusian standards of quality of life with the European ones;- introducing reasonable European standards and increasing the quality of the Belarusian standards to the European level. We need reasonable reforms in all area - from tap water to accountability of the government (continuing the campaign Deputies to Answer!) and much more.

Nevertheless, the most important point behind all these is to change the attitude towards ourselves. People should arise from gray indifferent inhabitants and consumers who “do not care,” become Citizens and create their own European Home of the Republic of Belarus out of a “northwest” provincial farm.

EuRO REnOvaTIOn OF BElaRuS

novobelitsa: There Will be Dog Walking GroundsCommunity activists of the campaign NovoBelitsa using the right granted by article 40 of the Constitution are collecting signatures in Novobelitskiy district under the collective appeal to equip two grounds for dog walking and for dog training in the district.

Currently, at least 16 dog walking grounds are equipped in specially designated areas by the local executive authorities in Zheleznodorozhnyi, Sovetskiy and Tsentralnyi districts. However, there is absolutely no place to walk or work with a dog, even with service dogs or dangerous breeds, in Novobelitskiy district.

Dog owners breaking the requirements for dog walking have to walk their dogs in the local yards, school stadiums, recreation areas or open spaces within walking distance from where they live. Do dogs need a place where they can run along and jump without interfering passersby and people with kids?

New grounds for dog walking and dog training in Novobelitskiy district will help improve sanitary and epidemiological situation in the area, increase control and registration of pets in housing departments, reduce number of accidents involving dogs as well as conflicts involving dogs, their owners and passersby.

Activists of the campaign NovoBelitsa and partial residents of the district suggest the local administration of Novobelitskiy district taking the following measures:

1. studying success cases of Zheleznodorozhnyi, Sovetskiy and Tsentralnyi districts of the city of Gomel where the local administrations equipped dog walking grounds;

2. organizing and carrying out a public discussion of dog owners and local residents who signed a collective appeal;

3. taking a decision on allocating sites for equipping dog walking grounds from the public land of Novobelitskiy district;

4. informing those who signed the appeal on the decision taken, stating real reasons for taking such a decision as well as on the precise location of the grounds and timing of implementation of the decision;

5. equipping at least two grounds (a dog walking ground and a dog training ground) in a certain areas of Novobelitskiy district;

6. installing signs prohibiting dog walking in residential and recreational areas as well as in official public areas;

7. putting a location map of dog walking grounds on the official websites of Gomel City Executive Committee and local administrations of four districts;

8. suggesting to Gomel City Executive Committee to approve a regulation on dog walking and dog training grounds in Gomel.

We can suggest a few places to equip at least two grounds for dog walking and dog training: in a greenway near Gomel Forestry, near the volleyball court behind the church of St. Alexander Nevsky, in Nursery-kindergarden-school 73 of Gomel, and close to the stadium of the Youth Sports School 7. Moreover, local residents can come up with more options.

It is time for a new, more civilized way of looking at the problem of dog walking in Novobelitskiy district. Novobelitsa (“Belarusian Vatican,” the greenest area above the river Sozh, a “city within the city”) with a population of over 48,000 people needs to solve this old problem. In the interests of both humans and dogs.

By andrey aksionov, Our Housend.gomel@gmail.com

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Euro Renovation of Belarus is a campaign designed to improve standards of quality of life in Belarus in various fields (medicine, education, basic utilities, etc.) to the European level.

Euro Renovation at Home: Ten Problems at One Time

Since 2011, One Day of Housing is being organized in Gomel by the resolution of the chairman of Gomel City Executive Committee. Heads of regional housing and utilities services meet with residents of different apartment buildings every second Thursday. What did Our House achieve at such meetings in November?

Representatives of the district administrations, municipal and district housing services, deputies, and law enforcement agencies met with community residents in the yards of their apartment buildings. They responded to sensible questions about new parking lots in the yards, inspections of apartments to check compliance of the new heating sections installed with the project, and mandatory full payments for routine repairs in doorways.

Parking lots are organized at the overhaul of a building. Owners in very few buildings equip parking lots at their own expense: the cost per piece is about 4 million Belarusian rubles. The vast majority of cars are being left for night near apartment buildings instead of the nearest parking lot, thus “saving” for a family at least 200 thousand Belarusian rubles a month.

Residents are particularly worried about the current practice of paying for routine repair in doorways. Under the new Housing Code, routine repairs must be done at the expense of the residents of a building. For example, in the doorway of a 9-storey apartment building each of the roughly 36 apartments will need to contribute 250 thousand Belarusian rubles, regardless of the number of residents in the apartment. And only then, after having put the budget, the local housing department will do necessary repairs.

Results of the meetings during One Day of Housing must be reflected in a report where they write down all questions asked by the community. Reports should contain information on the venue, officials invited and total number of residents. One Day of Housing reports should be stored in a separate folder for three years.

Questions raised during One Day of Housing which require actual work or further study are subject to mandatory review as prescribed by the law. Such questions are solved according to action plans drawn where officials in charge and deadlines for implementation are indicated.

Four residents of the building number 9 located on the street Sukhogo included ten different problems in the agenda of One Day of Housing: lighting of the driveway and the entrance to the building, repair of asphalt pavement and elevator, landscaping, repair of doors, stairways and handrails, and glassing windows at the inter-floor landings. The deadlines were set from October 16, 2013 to September 1, 2014.

As of today, windows were glassed on the inter-floor landings between 4 and 5, 7 and 8 floors of the building; a spring on the second front door to the entrance of the building was installed; lighting at the stairwells was restored; the first flight of stairs is painted.

One can argue how to make a housing department work. One Day of Housing in Gomel is a real opportunity to solve problems of every house.

By andrey aksionov, Our Housend.gomel@gmail.com

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EuRO REnOvaTIOn OF BElaRuS

DEPuTIES TO anSWER

Do not Put the Cart before the HorseThis saying has long been known and is widespread among many peoples of the world. It touches upon such qualities as reasonable, good and eternal, for some but not for all. For example, the chairman of the District Council of Deputies of Dubrovenskiy region, Elena Tikhonova, speaking at a meeting of the District Council of Deputies noted the positive change in participation of people in local budgeting through so-called self-taxation. She gave the following example: «During the reporting period of 2013 we raised about 13 million Belarusian rubles. This money has been spent to address vital issues in rural areas. Residents of these areas see and appreciate their work but it is not common for the cities.”

Dear Elena viktorovna,To deliver a cart of rubles to the local budget, one needs not only a four-unit but also a horse. And it is not recommended to put the cart before the horse, as the proverb teaches.During the campaign Deputies to Answer! activists of the civil campaign Our House often have to remind to the “servants of the people” that people’s participation in financing of budget expenditures is possible only if permitted by the Law On Local Governance and Self-Governance in the Republic of Belarus. Article 35 of the Law states that “pursuant to the decision of the local assembly or an authority of territorial public self-government in a city of regional subordination, an urban village, or a local administration, funds may be raised to finance and (or) to reimburse expenses of a local budget for the purposes specified by the local assembly or an authority of territorial public self-government (hereinafter “self-taxation funds”).”In Dubrovenskiy region, 102 heads of villages were elected. However, in Dubrovno as well as in other cities of Vitebsk region the local territorial self-government does not exists, neither being represented by heads of the streets of the private houses, nor by housing committees of the streets or residential buildings.Where will a cart loaded with millions of rubles sought by officials and deputies come from if we have no horse that can pull out this cart with money?

By nikolai Petrushenko polkovnik.zapasa@gmail.com

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Deputies to Answer! is a campaign that targets improvement of communication between voters and deputies at different levels, accountability and transparency of deputies, and development of local government in Belarus. The campaign Deputies to Answer! addresses such key issues as state budgeting and participation of people in decision-making.

BEWaRE OF THE POlICE!

Prevention of Domestic violence Has Been Mired in Bureaucracy

These days there is a new way of a campaign for the prevention of domestic violence in the cities and villages of Belarus. I cannot say whether police officers have been effective in identifying victims of domestic violence by paying visit to families together with the representatives of the local community.But I can say a few words on what they recommend to potential victims.If to follow the logic of a publication To Prevent Domestic Violence written for the newspaper Our Tolochinschina by Igor Shaytor, who is the deputy chief of the order prevention department of the police in Tolochinskiy region, then those who did not find peace in a family hearth are offered ample opportunities to get help, starting from police officers to psychologists and lawyers at a free hot line 8 801 100 8 801. And so on and so forth. A fifth best option recommended by the police is to send a SOS signal to mythical non-governmental organizations.Which ones? The newspaper is silent. Nevertheless, one can see with the naked eye that there is no point in seeking help from, say, the association of beekeepers. I suspect that the association of employers won’t be that useful either, even if asked to help.I am a member of many non-governmental organizations. Using my membership right, I would like to give a counter recommendation to the system of the police. More specifically, not to the police in general but to deputy chiefs of all order prevention department of the police in Belarus. I suggest recalling their duty arising from the Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs No 20 of January 24, 2012. This Order approved the Instruction On Organizing the Work of a Police Inspector.The document obliges police inspectors (who are subordinated to deputy chiefs of order prevention departments of the police) to keep dozens of lists. In turn, deputy chiefs of order prevention departments of the police have to verify that those lists are kept, and to do that “at least once a quarter.” In other words, the law makes them go four times a year even through those lists that are updated once a year.I have ranked this masterpiece of the police bureaucracy by categories: super important, highly important, very important, simply important and not important. In the first category (in my catalogue) are those lists that, in accordance with the analyzed instruction, subordinates of Igor Shaytor must update within 5 days after registration. The latter category comprises those that should be updated “at least once a year.” In this category, there is a list called The List of Elderly People who Live with People Prone to Delinquent Behavior.Wow! Why, these are the folks for whom the whole thing under the code name “Everyday Life” was launched and carried out. Imagine yourself aged over 60, living with a granddaughter who is a prostitute or a grandson who is a bully? Imagined? Then apply a test: Do you agree that such lists should be checked by police inspectors almost every day if not more often?At the very least, they should be updated after each advertising campaign, i.e. a campaign of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

By nikolai Petrushenko polkovnik.zapasa@gmail.com

Beware of the Police! is a campaign designed to draw attention to the ill-treatment and police violence against women as well as overall work of the police in the country. The campaign Beware of the Police! targets carrying out of the duties and complying with the law by police officers.