On December 27, 2023, a meeting of the board of the Department for Archives and Records Management of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Belarus was held

On December 27, 2022, a meeting of the board of the Department for Archives and Records Management of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Belarus (hereinafter referred to as the Department) was held, at which the following issues were considered:

1. On work with appeals from citizens and legal entities in the Department and republican archival institutions for the period in the second half of 2023.
2. About the Plan of main activities of the Department for 2024.
3. On the implementation of anti-corruption legislation in republican archival institutions in 2023.
4. On the use of budget funds by republican archival institutions in the fourth quarter of 2023.

The work of the board was opened by the director of the Department O.L.Voinov.

On the first issue, the head of the department of organizational work, information and use of documents G.S.Zholnerkevich spoke with information.

The Board noted that in the second half of 2023, the work of the Department and republican archival institutions was aimed at timely and high-quality consideration of appeals from citizens and legal entities.

In July–November 2023, the Department considered the number of appeals from citizens and legal entities compared to the same period last year decreased by 12%.

In republican archival institutions, applications from citizens and legal entities during the reporting period were considered in the National Archive of the Republic of Belarus (hereinafter – NARB), the National Historical Archive of Belarus (hereinafter – NIAB) and the National Historical Archive of Belarus in Grodno (hereinafter – NIAB in Grodno ).

In the reporting period, their number increased by 63.64% compared to 2022 figures.

Director of the National Historical Archive of Belarus M.M.Glushakov made a co-report on the issue.

The board noted that the state unified (integrated) republican information system for recording and processing appeals of citizens and legal entities (hereinafter referred to as the System) continues to receive a significant number of requests that do not fall within the scope of the Law of the Republic of Belarus «On Appeals of Citizens and Legal Entities». persons», which significantly complicates the work with appeals from citizens and legal entities.

During the discussion of the issue, the Director of the Department was instructed to finalize the draft decision of the board, in particular, by January 15, 2024, to develop specific proposals to solve the above problem and, by January 31, 2024, to report proposals for taking specific measures to exclude, radically reduce the direction citizens of thematic and other types of requests to the System.

As part of the second item on the agenda, the board considered the draft Plan of the Department’s main activities for 2024.

During the discussion of the draft Plan, the Director of the Department drew attention to the need to supplement it with events related to the «Year of Quality» and a number of other events related to the calendar of memorable dates, as well as wider involvement of regional archival institutions in the implementation of events.

On the third question, the board heard information from the head of the department of organizational work, information and use of documents, G.S.Zholnerkevich, on the implementation by republican archival institutions of the requirements of anti-corruption legislation in 2023.

It was noted that the republican archival institutions carried out anti-corruption work in 2023 in accordance with

with the Law of the Republic of Belarus of July 15, 2015 «On the fight against corruption», the Action Plan to combat corruption in the Ministry of Justice, bodies, organizations of the Ministry of Justice system for 2023, approved by the Minister of Justice on December 30, 2022 No.106-plan, decisions adopted at a meeting of the Anti-Corruption Commission of the Ministry of Justice on March 27, 2023 (Minutes dated March 27, 2023 No.1) (hereinafter referred to as the Protocol), the Plan on additional measures to combat corruption in republican archival institutions, approved by the Minister of Justice on September 6, 2023 No.81 ( hereinafter referred to as Plan No.81).

The boards stated that anti-corruption work is being carried out on a systematic basis. Issues related to the implementation of anti-corruption requirements are considered annually at meetings of the Department’s board.

A co-report on this issue was made by the Director of the National Archives of the Republic of Belarus A.K.Demyanuk.

The head of the department for records management, archives, including the registry office of the main department of justice of the Grodno regional executive committee, A.Yu. Zabolotnaya, informed the board about the work to combat corruption in the state archives of the Grodno region.

During the discussion, the Director of the Department pointed out the need for a more in-depth analysis of the activities of state archival institutions in matters of combating corruption. It was noted that the key point in the field of anti-corruption activities is the implementation of preventive measures.

Additionally, the Director of the Department was instructed to continue to analyze the work to combat corruption throughout the industry.

On the fourth issue, the deputy head of the department of records management, formation and preservation of the NAF of the Department for Archives and Records Management of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Belarus A.V.Kochetkova spoke, who noted that the use of budget funds by archival institutions in the fourth quarter and in general in 2023 was carried out in four ways main directions.

The first direction is the repurposing of buildings for five state archival institutions (State Archives of the Gomel Region, State Archives of the Vitebsk Region, State Archives of Public Associations of the Grodno Region, State Archives of the Mogilev Region and the future State Archives of Minsk). The total updated amount of funding from the local budget for 2023 is RUB 16,285,847.57. The volume of work planned for the year has been completed.

The second direction is the modernization and major repairs of buildings in 2 republican, 10 regional and zonal state archives for 15 objects.

For the republican state archives, the total updated amount of funding amounted to 3,894,260.15 rubles. (republican budget), the money has been spent. For regional and zonal state archives, the total updated amount of funding is 1,083,361.14 rubles. (local budget). Work was completed in 7 zonal state archives. All planned activities were implemented in full. Renovations at the State Archive of the Minsk Region will be completed in 2024.

The third direction is carrying out ongoing repairs of buildings of state archival institutions in 8 republican, 15 regional and zonal state archival institutions.

For republican archival institutions, the total adjusted amount of funding amounted to 911,799.32 rubles. (republican budget). For regional and zonal state archives – 317,050.46 rubles. (local budget). The renovation work has been completed.

The fourth direction is the acquisition of equipment for working with archival documents (for 18 archives).

For republican archival institutions, the total adjusted amount of funding amounted to 1,946,552.19 rubles. (republican budget), the disbursement of appropriations is completed. The planned equipment has been purchased. These are various types of scanners, specialized laboratory equipment, utility vehicles, shelving and furniture equipment. For regional and zonal state archives, the total amount of funding amounted to 260,765.91 rubles. (local budget). The equipment planned for acquisition has been purchased.

Thus, the funds allocated by the state for the archival industry in 2023 were disbursed in full, efficiently and in a timely manner. It is planned next year, taking into account the experience gained, to complete the capital construction work started in 2023 and rationally use financial allocations to further strengthen the material and technical base of state archival institutions in order to preserve documents of the National Archival Fund of the Republic of Belarus.

The co-rapporteurs on this issue were the director of the institution «Belarusian State Archive of Film, Photo and Audio Documents» A.N.Gonchar and Director of the State Archive of Public Associations of the Grodno Region L.N.Gorbach. In their speeches, archive managers highlighted in detail the problematic issues of major repairs and reconstruction of buildings, as well as the acquisition of equipment for performing archival work.

After completing the consideration of the issues submitted to the board, the Director of the Department thanked everyone present for their good work in 2023, congratulated them on the upcoming 2024, Merry Christmas and wished them happiness, success in work and good health in the new year.