Belarusian Government Ignores ILO Recommendations :: Charter'97 :: News

The Belarusian congress of democratic trade unions addressed a statement to the International Labour Organization about the disinclination of the authorities of Belarus to make improvements in the state with trade unions rights. This problem is to become one of the topics of the discussion at the regional European ILO conference, which is to take place in Budapest on February 14-18.

The International Labour Organization has studied and acknowledged the fact of violations of independent trade unions rights in Belarus and offered to improve the situation. The recommendations consist of 12 paragraphs and are dedicated to improvement of the trade unions work conditions.

“Firstly, the ILO recommendations were to be published in official mass media, but it hadn’t been made. Secondly, our partnership in the National Council on Labour and Social Relations was to be restored, but no steps in this direction had been made either. Moreover, a number of independent trade union movement activists were fired. Contract terms were not extended for them. In this connection we had to turn to the prime-minister, and to a number of ministries and departments with a question whether they plan to fulfil the recommendations of the ILO. A month and a half has passed, but we were not given the answer. Nothing is done to fulfil the recommendations of the ILO,” told the leader of the Belarusian Democratic Trade Unions Congress Alyaksandar Yarashuk to Radio Svaboda.

The recommendations of the ILO to the government of Belarus were based on the report of the special commission which studied the situation with trade union rights in Belarus. If the situation would not be improved by June 1, 2005, the ILO reserves the right to initiate economic sanctions against Belarus by the EU.