ILO can take radical steps against Lukashenka

The 97th annual Conference of the International Labour Organization (ILO), or the International Labour Conference, is taking place in Geneva.

Yesterday an official trilateral delegation and the chairman of the Belarusian Congress of Democratic Trade Unions Alyaksandr Yarashuk went to Switzerland. It is planned that on June 5 the ILO Standards and Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work Sector will discuss the Belarusian issue.

By the way, last year the official delegation was headed by Vice Prime Minister Andrei Kabyakou and a deputy head of the presidential administration Natalya Pyatkevich. This year the delegation is headed by Labour Minister Uladzimir Patupchyk, and it includes representatives of the Labour Ministry, the Federation of Trade Unions of Belarus and representatives of employers.

The chairman of the Belarusian Congress of Democratic Trade Unions Alyaksandr Yarashuk believes that the situation in Belarus is to be discussed at a serious level. For the seventh year in a row the Belarusian issue is discussed. The country was included into the special paragraph, and a commission for investigation was created once. Last year the EU deprived Belarus trade preferences, but A. Yarashuk believes:

“The situation hasn’t changed basically, and it cannot change. Certainly, all the steps for fulfilling recommendations of the International Labour Organization (there are 12 of them, by the way), are nothing else but reforming the political system towards democracy. Today’s regime hasn’t become ready for this stage yet, it is not a self-destroyer and not a great reformer either. The situation with trade union rights in the country cannot change for the better fundamentally,” Yarashuk said to Radio Svaboda.

As said by the chairman of the Belarusian Congress of Democratic Trade Unions Alyaksandr Yarashuk, the talk in Geneva would be harsh. He does not exclude that Belarus will be included into the s-called special paragraph for the 6th time. Besides, the regime hasn’t adopted the Law on Trade Unions yet, which under the presidential decree was to be adopted last spring. The ILO is known for its principled position, Alyaksandr Yarashuk said.

“The ILO insists on fulfillment its recommendations and doesn’t yield. Moreover, they are even ready to take radical steps, to apply Paragraph 33 of the ILO Constitution. It means an appeal to international community countries to suspend any contacts with Belarusian government. And secondly it means unpleasant prospects directly connected with trade preferences”.