European Union

Statement

ILO Governing Body, 348^th session 

17 June 2023

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Report on developments relating to the resolution concerning the Russian Federation’s aggression against Ukraine from the perspective of the mandate of the International Labour Organization

GB.348/INS/5/2

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Geneva, 17 June 2023

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ILO Governing Body, 348th session

17 June 2023

Report on developments relating to the resolution concerning the Russian Federation’s aggression against Ukraine from the perspective of the mandate of the International Labour Organization

GB.348/INS/5/2

EU statement

Chair,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union and its Member States.

The Candidate Countries Albania*, Bosnia and Herzegovina*, the Republic of North Macedonia*, Moldova, Montenegro* and Ukraine, the potential candidate country Georgia, the EFTA countries Iceland and Norway, members of the European Economic Area align themselves with this statement.

We align with the cross-regional statement made on behalf of 45 countries by Lithuania.

1. We thank the Office for the new report on developments relating to the Russian Federation’s war of aggression against Ukraine.
2. This illegal, unprovoked and unjustified war of aggression is a gross violation of international law, notably the UN Charter. With this war of aggression, Russia is blatantly violating human rights and international humanitarian law, as well as severely undermining the rules-based international order. These violations are entirely incompatible with the values and principles of the International Labour Organization (ILO).
3. At its 344th Session (March 2022), the Governing Body adopted a resolution concerning the Russian Federation’s aggression against Ukraine from the perspective of the mandate of the ILO and calling upon the Russian Federation to immediately and unconditionally cease its aggression and withdraw its troops from Ukraine.
4. The EU supports all genuine and meaningful negotiating efforts to bring an end to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. We reiterate the European Union’s readiness to support Ukraine’s initiative for a just peace based on respect for Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity as protected by the UN Charter. To date, Russia has not shown any genuine moves towards a comprehensive, just and lasting peace. Instead, the country has continued and intensified its bombings of civilian infrastructure, with the apparent aim of terrorising and demoralising the civilian population.
5. We condemn the destruction of the dam at Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant in the strongest possible terms. This reckless act is yet another brutal consequence of Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine. The intentional targeting of civilian objects, including critical infrastructure, is a war crime. The downstream flooding has caused loss of lives and has put the livelihoods of many Ukrainians at risk. Dropping water levels of the dam might also affect access to critical cooling water for the reactors of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) and for the spent fuel storage. This in turn puts at risk the proper functioning of the safety and security systems of the ZNPP in clear violation of earlier related resolutions of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) Board of Governors and the General Conference. The seven indispensable pillars for ensuring nuclear safety and security during an armed conflict, as advanced by the Director General of the IAEA, continue to be compromised. The five principles established by the DG of the IAEA are a further welcome development to help ensure nuclear safety and security at the ZNPP.
6. The destruction of the dam exacerbates the already dire situation for workers in the nuclear plant. We are deeply concerned by the reports of murder, imprisonment and aggressive pressuring of staff, destruction of safety-related equipment and radiation monitoring systems, disruption to maintenance and security supplies and other grievances endangering the lives and workplaces of plant workers. We deplore the lack of emergency response and occupational safety and health management systems, an unclear chain of command and decision-making, and unsustainable workloads. We also condemn that Ukrainian nuclear workers have been refused the right to leave the occupied territory.
7. The EU and its member states remain very concerned about reports of violence and intimidation, physical and emotional abuse and forced labour in the territories occupied by Russian forces. We encourage the Office to work together with the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine to investigate cases of among others compulsion to sign employment contracts under threat of death, extension of working hours and unpaid overtime work, and discrimination and forced affiliation with Russian trade unions.
8. We are deeply saddened by the steep increase in the number of persons with disability status by at least 130,000 in 2022, caused to a large extent by Russia’s war of aggression and posing a clear labour market and social integration issue in the years and decades to come. We also note with concern that 80 per cent of Ukrainian seafarers are presently abroad and cannot exercise their freedom to move and to work, or gain access to quality healthcare.
9. The impact of the Russian war of aggression on Ukraine’s economic and labour market conditions has been severe. The ILO estimated 2.4 million jobs lost and a drop in the gross domestic product of 29.1 per cent in 2022. We encourage the Office to continue reporting on the impact of the Russian aggression on Ukraine’s economic, social and labour market conditions.
10. The fact that Mr Shokhin, the President of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, an organisation member of the International Organisation of Employers, participated at the International Labour Conference and spoke at the plenary is regrettable. Mr Shokhin is sanctioned by the EU restrictive measures for supporting or implementing actions or policies that undermine or threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine, as well as stability and security in Ukraine.
11. The EU and its Member States commend the attendance and active participation of the Ukrainian tripartite delegation at the 111^th International Labour Conference, despite extraordinarily difficult circumstances. We recognise the continued work of the Government of Ukraine, amidst the challenges of the war, to modernize labour, employment and social protection policies. We commend the ILO’s support to Ukrainian trade unions and employers’ organizations to remain operational despite being severely affected by Russia’s war of aggression. We welcome ILO support to Ukraine, notably to the State Employment Service, the State Labour Inspectorate as well as the facilitation of a tripartite consensus on the new draft law on safety and health at work and support on the new labour code, which provides an opportunity to align further with the EU body of laws and ILO standards.
12. We reaffirm the importance for the ILO and other development partners to engage to facilitate recovery and reconstruction in parallel to securing humanitarian assistance. We welcome that an increasing number of bilateral donors are promising to equal their contributions of 2022 in 2023 and are expanding the planning horizon of Ukrainian authorities. We appreciate the ILO’s ongoing discussion with development partners, among which are several EU Member States, and salute a first project signed with Canada to support Ukraine’s labour law reform. The upcoming participation of the Director-General in the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London on 21 and 22 June 2023 is an opportunity to shape the debate towards supporting recovery of the labour market.
13. We welcome the near finalisation of the staged return of ILO staff to Kyiv. We salute the approved Programme and Budget for 2024-25, which allocates finances for the establishment of an ILO Country Office in Kyiv, and encourage the Office and Ukraine to agree on all outstanding questions. This office will facilitate ILO’s support to Ukraine and its constituents during reconstruction and recovery.
14. We will continue to pay a close attention to the ability of the Moscow sub-regional Office to deliver technical cooperation and assistance to all countries in the sub-region. We continue to question the appropriateness, suitability and ongoing feasibility of the continued presence of the ILO sub-regional office in Moscow given Russia’s continued violation of the ILO Constitution and its commitments as a member of the ILO. We note that the Office is leased directly from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation and we are cognisant of the fact that the lease expires at the end of 2023. We ask the Office to provide information on its plans as of 2024.
15. With this, the EU and its Member States can support the decision point.
16. We oppose the amendment proposed by the Russian Federation.

Thank you, Chair.

[*Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of North Macedonia and Montenegro, continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.]