{"id":79,"area":"Europe","region_name":"Belarus","iso_2":"BY","region_sub":null,"legal_code_title":"Law No. 362-Z2 from July 2017","legal_code_title_citation_1":"Text of the law is available at: https://www.pravo.by/document/?guid=12551&p0=H11600362&p1=1","legal_code_title_citation_2":null,"legal_code_body":"The Bill on the Protection of Children from Information Harmful to their Health and Development was passed and came into effect in July 2017 as Law No. 362-Z2. Similar to Russia’s propaganda law, Article 37 prohibits the dissemination of information that “discredits the institution of family and marriage”.","legal_code_body_citation_1":null,"legal_code_body_citation_2":null,"legal_code_body_citation_3":null,"legal_code_body_citation_4":null,"legal_code_ilga_comments":null,"legal_code_ilga_comments_citation_1":null,"legal_code_ilga_comments_citation_2":null,"legal_code_ilga_comments_citation_3":null,"legal_code_ilga_comments_citation_4":null,"legal_code_ilga_comments_citation_5":null,"legal_code_ilga_comments_citation_6":null,"legal_code_scruff_comments":"LGBTI RIGHTS: There are no legal restrictions on same-sex sexual relations or the organization of LGBTI events in Latvia.\n• In 2015 Mozaika, an NGO that promotes LGBTI rights, received 19 reports of LGBTI rights violations, which ranged from verbal and physical attacks to discrimination at work and bullying in schools.  Non-governmental organizations complained of widespread intolerance and underreporting of such attacks and discrimination to authorities.","prison_term_min_length":null,"prison_term_max_length":null,"prison_term_notes":null,"prison_term_not_specified":null,"prison_term_years":null,"prison_term_life":null,"prison_term_mandatory":null,"fine_min_amount":null,"fine_max_amount":null,"fine_currency":null,"fine_notes":null,"fine_not_specified":null,"fine_amount":null,"fine_mandatory":null,"penalty_death":null,"penalty_death_notes":null,"penalty_corporal_punishment":null,"penalty_corporal_punishment_notes":null,"penalty_hard_labor":null,"penalty_hard_labor_notes":null,"penalty_banishment":null,"legal_code_explicitly_references_same_sex_acts":null,"legal_code_explicitly_references_acts_against_nature":null,"legal_code_differentiates_anal_sex_from_other_acts":null,"legal_code_indicates_hiv_as_aggravating_factor":null,"legal_code_indicates_age_of_consent_homosexual_acts_over_18":null,"existing_laws_used_to_target_gays_but_not_anti_gay":null,"islamic_sharia_law":null,"islamic_sharia_law_notes":null,"laws_subregional_variance_or_contradiction":null,"laws_subregional_variance_or_contradiction_notes":null,"laws_not_specifically_homophobic":null,"laws_status_unclear":null,"laws_status_unclear_notes":null,"persecution_non_state_agents":null,"criminalization_under_consideration":null,"recently_decriminalized":null,"propaganda_law_under_consideration":true,"propaganda_law_title":null,"propaganda_law_title_citation_1":null,"propaganda_law_body":null,"propaganda_law_body_citation_1":null,"propaganda_law_ilga_comments":"As of report cutoff (April 2024), the standalone 'LGBT propaganda' bill to amend the Law on Mass Media (2009) had passed only a first reading (April 2023); no final enactment confirmed. Separately, Ministry of Culture Decision No. 24 (2024, April) already brings 'non-traditional sexual relations' content within the pre-existing pornography-restriction framework under Criminal Code (1999) Art. 343.","legal_developments_2023_2024_summary":"A bill to amend the Law on Mass Media (2009) to ban 'LGBT propaganda' passed a first reading in the House of Representatives in April 2023; a further bill covering 'LGBT, paedophilia and change of sex' was reported in preparation Sept-Oct 2023, with drafting reportedly concluded by the General Prosecutor in Feb. 2024. Separately, in April 2024 the Ministry of Culture adopted Decision No. 24 (2024), amending a 2007 instruction to formally classify 'homosexualism' and related concepts as 'non-traditional sexual relations' within the existing 'pornography' legal category (Criminal Code (1999) Art. 343, up to 2-4 years).","legal_developments_2023_2024_citations":"ILGA World, Laws On Us: A Global Overview of Legal Progress and Backtracking on SOGIESC, 1st Ed. (Geneva, May 2024), p.85-87.","status_change_type":"Propaganda-law bill advancing through drafting/legislative process (not yet enacted as a standalone law); related administrative decision adopted"}