Changes to the legislation on administrative liability have come into force

On April 15, 2026, the President of Belarus signed the Law of the Republic of Belarus No. 138-Z "On Amendments to the Codes on Administrative Offenses". Significant amendments were made to the current Code of Administrative Offenses (KoAP) and the Procedural and Enforcement Code of Administrative Offenses (PIKoAP).

The protection of the family institution and traditional values has been expanded, and new articles have been introduced for the prevention of offenses in the sphere of family and domestic relations. Thus, responsibility is introduced for the propaganda of homosexual relations, gender reassignment, pedophilia, and childlessness in the form of a fine of up to 900 rubles, and in the case where such actions are committed against a minor – up to 1,350 rubles or administrative arrest.

Propaganda is defined as the dissemination of information in any form for the purpose of forming citizens' perceptions of the attractiveness of homosexual relations, gender reassignment, childlessness, or the acceptability of pedophilia.

In turn, dissemination should be understood as the commission of active actions in oral, written, or other form (using technical means, including the Internet). Such actions include forwarding such information (even if the chat is private), reposting such posts, and liking them.

Due to the fact that this norm has been introduced recently, there are no cases of individuals being brought to justice under Article 19.6 of the KoAP.

It should be noted that the dissemination of information about the attractiveness of homosexual relations, gender reassignment, childlessness, or the acceptability of pedophilia is also prohibited in the media, on Internet resources, and news aggregators. In addition, it is not permissible to post hyperlinks to information messages and materials containing such information.

In order not to be held liable, one should pay close attention to what is posted and forwarded on social networks. Therefore, if any materials raise doubts, it is better to delete them and not publish new ones.

In accordance with Art. 37-1 of the Law of the Republic of Belarus of November 19, 1993 No. 2570-XII "On the Rights of the Child", information that discredits the institution of family and marital relations, aimed at promoting homosexual relations, gender reassignment, pedophilia, and childlessness is considered information that harms the health and development of children, and is capable of negatively impacting the health, physical, moral, and spiritual development of children of a certain age category. Parents (guardians, custodians) are obliged to protect children from information disseminated on the global computer network Internet that harms their health and development, including by explaining to children the harm of such information and monitoring children's use of information resources of the global computer network Internet.