Young democrats

Being an honor of the United Civil Party, the Youth Democrats youth organization adheres to a liberal-conservative ideology. The main values ​​of MD are freedom, a democratic state of law, inviolability of private property, the sovereignty of Belarus, national culture and traditions, modern high-quality education and the creation of conditions for successful self-realization of youth, the development and free activity of civil society institutions, European standards of quality of life ^[4] .

The mission of MD is to develop civil society and democratic institutions of the country, by increasing the participation of young people in the political, economic and social spheres of life.

The youth organization of the UCP “Young Democrats” unites young people of Belarus sharing liberal-conservative and democratic values, who consider human rights above the interests of the state, and support traditional family values. MD stands for the national sovereignty of Belarus, for democracy, for a market economy, for the inviolability of private property, and for the European vector of development and integration for Belarus. MD sees Belarus as a modern democratic European state, with a market economy, an independent court, elected and accountable to the people power, open society. In such a state, a young man is not looking for an opportunity to leave the country and leave in search of a better life. Here, a young man is not obliged to pay his debt to his homeland in the form of military service without his consent, there is no mandatory registration, without which it is impossible to find work or study, there is no mandatory distribution of students in the style of the Soviet system. There are no stereotypes in society about how a person should dress and look; here, each person is individual. The state does not impose on society or any social groups how they should think and express their opinions. The main task for MD is the active participation of its members in the socio-political life of the country with the goal of widespread dissemination and strengthening of democratic standards, the priority of human rights, the advantages of a market economy and traditional national values.

Conferences

• In October 2007, the Constituent Conference of the youth organization of the United Civil Party Young Democrats was held ^[5] . The conference was attended by deputies of local Soviets Alexander Zolotar and Kirill Sharapkin ^[6] . Alexander Shumkevich was elected the chairman of the organization, Arthur Tsurbakov, Mikhail Pashkevich, Anna Egorova and Alexander Sergeenko ^{[7] [8] were} elected vice-chairmen. The young Democrats set themselves two main goals for the upcoming work: • conducting a campaign to recognize the organization; • participation in the upcoming parliamentary elections as activists , managers of the EC , candidates for deputies ^{[9] [10]}

• In February 2009, the First Reporting and Election Conference of Young Democrats was held. Mikhail Pashkevich ^{[11] was} elected chairman of the organization, Alexander Sergeyenko was elected deputy chairman, and Fedor Maslennikov was elected executive secretary . The delegates of the conference decided: • to adopt the Youth Democrats Youth Policy Platform ^[12] ; • continue to develop alternative bills in the field of youth policy; • start preparations for the next local elections ; • Strengthen the international activities of the organization ^[13] .

• In January 2011, at the II Young Democrats conference, Oleg Korban ^[14] was elected chairman, Fedor Maslennikov and Vladimir Vuek ^[15] as deputies. Conference decisions: • registration of “Young Democrats” as a separate republican youth public association ^[16] ; • work to increase the size of the organization and expand regional representation; • active participation in traditional actions of solidarity with political prisoners and actions in memory of disappeared politicians; preparations for the 2012 parliamentary elections and the 2013 local elections ^[17] .

• In April 2013, the Third Reporting and Election Conference of Young Democrats was held ^[18] . Alexandra Vasilevich from Grodno was elected Chairperson of the organization, Alina Litvinchuk and Alexander Sergeenko ^[19] . The following decisions were made at the conference: • the main activities of the organization will be - education, sports, anti-corruption in these areas, youth employment ^[20] ; • a series of events aimed at educating young people and contributing to the influx of new personnel, as well as increasing the level of knowledge in the organization itself ^[21] ; • Registration of Young Democrats as a public association ^[22] .
• On May 31, 2015, the Fourth Reporting-Elective Congress of Young Democrats was held ^[3] . The delegates elected Lutskovich Elena as the chairman, Dmitry Kovalgin as the deputy, Alexey Kiriyenko as the international secretary.

Legal Registration

• 2011 - February 28, 2011 after the constituent conference "Young Democrats" filed documents for legal registration ^[23] . But on April 11, 2011, the Ministry of Justice refused to register with the wording “the fundamental provisions of the charter of the Young Democrats MPO do not meet the requirements of the law, the name of the Young Democrats MPO contradicts the provisions of its charter” ^[24] .
• 2013 - in 2013, another registration attempt was made ^[25] . However, it did not lead to anything ^[26] .

Appeals of both refusals of registration in the Supreme Court also did not give the desired result ^{[27] [28]} .
After the Supreme Court refused, members of the Young Democrats filed a complaint with the UN Human Rights Committee ^[29]

Campaigns

In November 2009, Young Democrats activists launched the Right to Shoot campaign, the goal of which is to inform young people about alternative civilian service (ACS) , a type of service, or rather, the labor activity of conscripts instead of traditional military service ^[30] . Together with partner youth and human rights organizations, Young Democrats have developed proposals for the content of the Law on Alternative Service (Proposals to the bill) ^[31] . The “Young Democrats” also supported the BPF Youth campaign “For a Professional Army” ^[32] . The leaders of the “Young Democrats” Mikhail Pashkevich and Fedor Maslennikov become coordinators of the campaign “For alternative service in Belarus”, found the AGS.BY website , organize the “Conscript Rights Center”, study international experience ^[33] , and develop the Conscript actions algorithm .

In 2014, MD activists conducted a campaign to collect signatures ^[34] for the use of Belarusian-made Geely cars by Belarusian officials. During the campaign, more than 15 thousand signatures were collected ^[35] .

• The Young Democrats page on the official website of the United Civil Party
• Website of the campaign “For alternative civil service in Belarus”

• United civic party
• Alternative service in the Republic of Belarus