The Coordination Council is joining the appeal by the Belarusian Congress of Democratic Trade Unions and the Office of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya and urge all participants of the ILO Conference to join the discussions on Belarus and support the decision to adopt measures under Article 33 of the ILO Constitution and other actions proposed by the ILO Governing Body.

 

For more than 18 years, the government of Belarus has violated the rights of individuals to the freedom of association and collective bargaining, deliberately disregarding the recommendations of the Report of the Commission of Inquiry appointed under Article 26 of the ILO Constitution in July 2004 and ignoring its obligations under the ILO Constitution. Instead, the Belarusian authorities escalated repressions and intentionally and systematically destroyed and dismantled the remaining independent trade unions.

 

The ILO Conference must endorse the measures suggested by the ILO Governing Body to hold the Government of Belarus accountable and to protect the fundamental rights of workers in Belarus.