The meeting of the ILO Governing Body that took place on October 28 through November 08 in Geneva, assessed the steps taken by the Belarusian Government to implement the ILO Resolution. Representative of the Belarusian authorities would yet again paint their own picture of the world but the response of the international organisation’s members was unequivocal.
“It was the 2023 International Labour Conference in Geneva held annually under the aegis of the ILO, that adopted a resolution on the application of Article 33 of the ILO Constitution to the Government of Belarus - an unprecedented measure - and issued recommendations”, the leader of the national trade union movement Maksim Pazniakau who attended the GB meeting as a representative of the International Trade Union Confederation told “Salidarnast”. “Historically, the Belarusian Government has been successfully peddling air to the ILO, making but token attempts to implement the recommendations.”
The Belarusian authorities represented by the Minister of Labour and Social Protection Ihar Staravoitau (he attended the meeting online) made yet another attempt to dismiss the international community’s accusations.
“Their position looks much like the propaganda TV screen in Belarus: no violations of workers’ rights, the Trade Union Federation of Belarus is 4 million strong and valorously fighting for workers’ rights, while the imprisoned union activists have been convicted not for their union activities but under articles of the Criminal Code for specific crimes they had committed. The rest is just intrigues and schemes of the Western World seeking to change the political situation in the country.
So, this once again sounded within the walls of the International Labour Organization. The only difference this time was that the patience of the member-states and Government representatives was stretched past its limit. Nobody was any longer willing to hear and prepared to bear the same old story over and over again without a hint of concrete action”, says Maksim Pazniakau, describing the reaction of the GB meeting participants.
He recalled the earlier proposal to the Government of Belarus to receive a mission of the International Labour Organization in Minsk so that they could have a first-hand assessment of the situation, and allow them to visit the incarcerated union leaders in order to ascertain their condition.
“All this met with point-blank rejection by the Belarusian authorities. So was the proposal to appoint a Special Representative for Belarus for monitoring purposes”, points out Maksim Pazniakau. “And this situation persists for eighteen months already, since the ILC made its decision on Belarus”.
In the meanwhile, the imprisoned union activists, just like all other political prisoners in the country, continue facing repressions, and the state of health of many of them is a cause of grave concern”.
“In the course of the recent amnesties, only ine union activist was released for humanitarian reasons”, recalls Maksim Pazniakau. “It was Vasily Beresneu, a REP union activist with only one kidney and an oncological condition. Still in prison are Vatslau Areshka who is almost completely blind and of a rather advanced age; Gennady Fedynich who has diabetes and was sentenced to 9 years in prison, Aliaksandr Yarashuk, President of the Belarusian Congress of Democratic Trade Unions (BKDP), and so many others.
To date, not a single international doctor has been allowed to visit them, denying us any chance of knowing what happens to our comrades in prisons where inmates die regularly.
At the same time, starting with late 2020, at least 69 Belarusian trade union leaders and activists faced criminal prosecution, about 30 of them are still held behind bars, while those who have done their time are still harassed and persecuted by the authorities.
“At every meeting, the Belarusian Government totally denies its guilt and does not even pretend to imitate some steps towards establishing some form of dialogue. Although they invariably attend all ILO events to promote their own agenda. Yet, fortunately, the world still has a majority of adequate people who understand what is going in Belarus”, notes the union leader.
The latest GB meeting was a vivid illustration of that. The draft decision proposed at the ILO Governing Body was supported by 41 GB members, with six abstainers and only two votes against, from Russia and China.
“With their actions and the total lack of willingness to have any dialogue, the Belarusian authorities resolutely invite new sanctions. And the harsh statements from representatives of the European Union, the USA, Australia, and other countries signify a high probability of a new portion of restrictions coming.
It is noteworthy that, previously, Article 33 of the ILO Constitution has been applied only once in the history of the organization – to Myanmar, for the systemic use of forced labour in the country.
Source: "Салідарнасць"
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