Scouting in Belarus

The Scout movement in Belarus consists of an unknown number of independent organizations. There are at least five nationwide associations as well as some regional associations. In addition, there were at one time Scouts-in-Exile in metropolitan areas of the United States, and there are presently international Scout units in Belarus.

The initial development of Scouting in Belarus took place within the Russian Scout movement, as part of the Russian empire. A Scout organization was founded in Kletsk, and Scouts appeared in Nyasvizh and other nearby villages. In 1929, American Methodists helped found the Girl Scout organization in Vilna. It lasted until 1929, but by the end of the 1920s, Scouting had been banned by the Soviet Union, and Scout activities ended, with many leaders and members arrested and imprisoned.

Emergence of democratic principles in the mid1980s made possible the creation of alternatives to the communist pioneer organizations. Close connections were formed with Guide and Scout organizations of many European countries, when children from areas affected by the Chernobyl accident were invited to summer camps abroad during the Chernobyl Children's Project in 1990. Especially close links were developed with Cyprus, and between Minsk and the Guides of Lincolnshire. In 1992, Cyprus was officially appointed Link country to support the development of Guiding in Belarus, and in June 1993 the first conference of the Association of Belarusian Guides was held in Minsk.

National associations

* Belarusian Republican Scout Association ("Белорусcкая Республиканская Скаутская Ассоциация"), member of WOSM from 1998 to 2004
* The Association of Belarusian Guides, member of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts since 1996
* Belarusian Scout Association ("Аб`яднанне Беларускiх Скаўтаў"), founded in 1991, liquidated in 2005 by the Supreme Court of Belarus
* Belarusian Scout Movement ("Белорусское Скаутское Движение")
* [http://www.ymca-belarus.ru/ YMCA Scouting] in Belarus

Note: There may have been a link between one of the non-NSAB Belarusian Scout organizations and the Union Internationale des Guides et Scouts d'Europe, a Christian-based Scout alternative, but it is uncertain to whom they were linked.

Regional associations

* [http://www.gomelscouts.com/ GomelScouts] in Gomel

Emblems

International Scouting units in Belarus

*In addition, there are American Boy Scouts in Minsk, serving in Boy Scout Troop 1101, linked to the Direct Service branch of the Boy Scouts of America, which supports units around the world.

See also

*Belarusian Republican Youth Union
*Scouting in displaced persons camps

References

* World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, World Bureau (2002), "Trefoil Round the World". Eleventh Edition 1997. ISBN 0-900827-75-0