What legislative innovations will help strengthen the country's security

Today, a visiting session of the Standing Committees on National Security and International Affairs of the House of Representatives was devoted to border security issues. It was held at the Kamenny Log border outpost. The deputies focused on the situation at the border and the application of legislation in customs matters.

One of the issues considered on the agenda was fingerprinting for foreigners. For many years, Belarusians have been fingerprinted when entering the European Union. Belarusian border guards are proposing to introduce the same procedure for security purposes.

The Border Committee is currently preparing a number of amendments to the legislation, which will expand the functions of the agency, but first they must be submitted to the House of Representatives of the National Assembly. Such visiting sessions should explain to parliamentarians the problems at the border and ways to solve them.

For several years now, the border with the European Union has been operating in a special mode. Most of the checkpoints are closed, and those that are functioning are not working at full capacity. The neighboring countries let through no more than half of the transport daily, sometimes this figure drops to 20%. As a result, there are multi-kilometer queues at the border. Ordinary people suffer from such measures. A similar situation is at all border crossings with the European Union. Despite this, more than 1 million European guests have visited Belarus under a visa-free regime. Most of them are citizens of Lithuania, Latvia and Poland. They are also forced to stand for hours at the border.

Meanwhile, the border can hardly be called calm. Customs and border guards record violations, the situation is complicated by the migration crisis. The neighboring countries constantly push illegal migrants onto our territory - injured and beaten, who, in search of a better life, are trying to get to the countries of the Old World. The western border of Belarus is also a major channel for smuggling and drug trafficking. And if earlier the border was guarded from both sides, now the exchange of information between the countries is minimal.

Gennady Lepeshko, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus:

"The length of our border is more than 3,600 kilometers and, unfortunately, about 2,500 of the length of the border is with unfriendly states. There are provocations on these sections of the border, there are attempts to smuggle drugs, weapons, ammunition, attempts to pass or overcome the border with forged documents. The sanctions policy that these states are pursuing, of course, leaves its mark on the Civil Procedure Code, the Customs Code. Amendments to the laws are being applied to prevent all these activities."

Parliamentarians are also working hard to create conditions that do not allow pressure to be exerted on our country. First of all, this concerns sanctions. Among other innovations are amendments to the Law on Customs Regulation. It should help businesses resist sanctions and help actively open and use new routes, because effective interaction between customs services is especially important for reorienting cargo flows. Speeding up procedures or changing legislation falls on the shoulders of parliamentarians.

Border guards and customs officers emphasize that such innovations are intended primarily for the security of the country.