Belarus will be again mentioned in a special paragraph of the ILO documents as a country fraudulently violating workers’ and trade union rights

On June 13 the Labor Standards Committee of the International Labor Organization (ILO) has taken a decision that Belarus is to be mentioned in a special paragraph of the Report of the ILO Standards Committee – the so called “ILO blacklist”. This information has been reported by BKDP leader Alexander Yaroshuk attending the 102-nd Session of the International Labor Conference cuirrently taking place in Geneva from 5 till 20 of June.
 Mentioning in a special paragraph means that the country has been put by the ILO under its special control due to continued, systematic and mass violations of trade union rights in it as well as due to neglect by the Belarus Government of its international commitments.

Moreover, the fact itself of putting Belarus on the “ILO black list” influences the country’s image and is a kind of a message to the ILO Member-States to reconsider their relations with Belarus. Being one of the specialized agencies of the UN the ILO forwards the decisions adopted by its annual conferences to the UN Security Council and other UN agencies and institutions. In their activities such influencial international organizations as WTO, IMF, WB and others take into consideration the decisions and recommendations of the ILO.
Belarus has been repeatedly (6 times!!!) mentioned in special paragraphs by the ILO for gross violations of trade union rights. “Belarusian case” has been in the focus of the ILO since 2000. We recall that in 2004 the ILO has sent to Belarus the Commission of Inquiry for investigating cases of violation of workers’ and trade union rights. Such events had happened only 4 times for 85 years of existaence of the ILO. The failure of Belarus Government to implement the recommendations of the ILO Commission of Inquiry concerning elimination of trade union rights violations has led to temporary withdrawal of Belarus from the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) in trade with EU countries. Nevertheles the authorities go on fighting with the independent unions.
In a near future the ILO has plans to send its contact mission to Belarus with a purpose of getting full picture of the situation with trade union rights in it.