Belarusian Embassies To Be Picketed Worldwide

International trade unions will hold pickets of solidarity with the REP trade union.

The joint mission of the IndustriALL Global Union and the International Trade Union Confederation is now in Minsk, the website praca-by.info reports. Its experts intend to discuss the persecution of trade unions and the enactment of norms on forced labor in the Belarusian legislation with the authorities. On April 19, international trade unions intend to picket Belarusian embassies in different countries and demand to stop the criminal case against trade union leaders.

The mission arrived in Minsk yesterday; the visit is scheduled for three days. The independent trade union of the radio electronic industry of Belarus (REP) explained that the delegation includes Jaap Wienen, the Assistant General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation, Anna Salnikova, Programme and Project Coordinator of ITUC-PERC in the NIS countries, Kemal Ozkan, the Deputy Secretary General of IndustriALL and Alexander Ivanov, a Communications Officer, will represent IndustriALL. The international experts plan to hold meetings at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Labor of Belarus.

The international trade union experts have many questions to the Belarusian authorities. And many of them have been set long ago, but the answers have not been received so far. In particular, in 2004, the International Labor Organization (ILO) formulated 12 recommendations for the Belarusian government based on the work of the Commission of Inquiry in the country. The recommendations touch upon the possibilities of trade unions to freely carry out their activities. According to the REP trade union, the recommendations are mostly not implemented: the workers of Belarus can not freely unite in trade unions and protect their interests.

"International trade unions want to remind that Belarus should bring legislation into line with the ILO conventions. The ITUC and the IndustriALL Global Union are ready to assist in this and send their experts to Belarus," – Henadz Fiadynich, the leader of the REP trade union, speaks on the goal of the visit.

Moreover, in addition to the "old" faults, the government of Belarus has also some new ones. In August last year, a criminal case was initiated against the REP trade union leaders for non-paying the taxes. The point is that trade union leaders have received grants from international structures through the accounts opened in other countries.

The authorities of Belarus view these funds as a personal income of citizens, which is taxable. The same case was opened against human rights defender Ales Bialiatski, who was recognized as a political prisoner and spent three years in prison. The chief accountant of the trade union, Ihar Komlik, also spent two months behind bars in connection with the "trade union case". The case has already been extended twice. The next term of the extension ends on May 1. The mission's arrival is connected with this fact as well. Besides, on April 19, on Thursday, international trade unions intend to picket Belarusian embassies in different countries and demand to stop the criminal case.

During the visit, members of the mission are going to discuss with the authorities the so-called decree on "parasites."

The REP trade union is a member of the Global Union IndustriALL, which explains the attention to its current problems. According to Henadz Fiadynich, the ILO and IndustriALL have leverage over the Belarusian authorities. In particular, Belarus may find itself in the so-called short-list of the ILO.

It includes the countries, where the situation with workers' rights becomes the subject of consideration at the ILO conference. The next conference will be held in June. Henadz Fiadynich reminds that European trade unions, unlike Belarusian ones, can influence their governments and create some inconveniences for the Belarusian authorities.