Belarus Faces Default :: Charter'97 :: News

A run of bad luck is beginning for Alyaksandr Lukashenka. The International Labour Organization (ILO) promises a great deal of trouble to Minsk. Recently Belarus was added to a special paragraph of its report. Against this background the decision of the EU to expel Belarus from the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) which is to come into force on June 21, are unlikely to be canceled, Russian “Nezavisimaya gazeta” writes. Independent experts comment the situation and say that Belarus’ expelling from the GSP together with the problems Russia caused for Belarus by increasing prices for energy resources and forcing to open the market for Russian goods, which could cause serious financial problems.

Belarus’ being included into the special paragraph at a session of ILO Committee on Application of Standards means that the situation with trade unions rights in the country is one of those “serious cases to which ILO should pay careful attention”, BelaPAN information agency quotes a comment of Ms. Karen Curtis, Deputy Director of ILO Standards Department.

As we have informed, the process of excluding Belarus from the GSP had been initiated by the ILO in 2002. The reason for the beginning of the examination was an address of the Belarusian Congress of Democratic Trade Unions with a complaint that workers’ rights are not respected in the country. In 2002-2006 Minsk was visited by several ILO missions to examine the situation. Experts of the organization have worked out 12 recommendations for Belarus. Their implementation could have meant closing of the case end and lifting the threat of preferences annulment. Among the conditions there were: annulment of registration principle of trade unions, lifting restrictions for holding pickets, protest rallies, restoration of independence of courts.

“The last sanction has been left at disposal of the ILO, was to apply paragraph No.33, as other expedients had been exhausted,” told the chairman of the Belarusian Congress of Democratic Trade Unions Alyaksandr Yarashuk. “In fact, it could lead to expelling the country from the international community, to isolation and economic sanctions”. As said by him, the Belarusian government had partially tried to fulfill only 2 out of 12 recommendations.

Besides, the official Minsk for a long time hadn’t paid attention to the fuss around the trade unions, not believing the seriousness of the ILO’s intentions. Only a few months ago officials and pro-regime media started to speak about threats of the “wicked” Europe which wants to cause troubles to a little and proud Belarus for its independent foreign policy standpoint.

As for the scale of these troubles, experts estimate them at about 300-400 mln Euro a year (about 10% of trade turnover with the EU countries). Representatives of the official Minsk, reacting to the situation that has shaped, are contradicting themselves. In one case they say that it is not dangerous for the country, as it has found alternative target markets. In another case they say that Belarus would have to take countermeasures (deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Eudachenka stated that). At the same time, the head of the pro-regime Federation of trade unions of Belarus Leanid Kozik appealed to the world community for defense. He referred to the fact that the EU ruling would considerably worsen the situation of hundreds thousands of workers in Belarus.

Commenting the situation, independent experts say that Belarus’ evicting from the GSP together with Russia’s moves to increase prices for energy resources and forcing to open markets for Russian goods could cause serious financial difficulties. “We have been approaching default in the end of the last year and in the beginning of this year,” told Lukashenka, commenting on the situation in the economy. If, according to him, the threat is over, independent experts say it is yet to come.