Dataharvest 2024 - the European Investigative Journalism Conference

In 2020, the Belarusian authorities started concealing statistics without official warning. During the COVID-19 pandemic, they stopped publishing data on population mortality, and amid sanctions, they closed down foreign trade statistics. In early 2023, an official decree was issued stating that the main statistical agency could officially withhold statistical data for the sake of national security. The principle of defining data that threatens national security is not specified. During this presentation, you will learn about the investigation methods of the Belarusian Investigative Center. We will look at how Belarus circumvents EU sanctions on the supply of nitrogen fertilizers to Lithuania and Serbia. We will show you how to investigate sanctions evasion without access to your country's foreign trade data, and how to research social media to uncover secret assets and details of the lives of individuals when FOI requests are not respected. Our approaches can be applied anywhere - even where access to information is much easier. This workshop may inspire you to check what stories might be hiding in your country too.