Consideration of any further measures, including those foreseen in the ILO Constitution, to secure compliance by the Government of Belarus with the recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry - ILO Governing Body, 346th session

Chair,

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

The Candidate Countries Albania*, the Republic of North Macedonia*, Montenegro* and Ukraine, the EFTA countries Iceland and Norway, members of the European Economic Area, and Switzerland align themselves with this statement.

1. The EU and its Member States are committed to the promotion, protection, respect and fulfilment of human rights, including labour rights, such as Conventions 87 and 98. We remain strongly committed to supporting the ILO in its indispensable role to develop, promote and supervise the application and implementation of ratified international labour standards and of the fundamental Conventions in particular.
2. The EU and its Member States are deeply concerned about the deterioration of human rights, including labour rights, in Belarus since the 2020 presidential elections, which were neither free nor fair. We also condemn the involvement of Belarus in the Russian Federation’s unjustified and illegal war of aggression against Ukraine and observe with deep concern that human and labour rights abuses within Belarus have continued to worsen since.
3. We strongly condemn ongoing attacks on the rights and freedoms of the Belarusian people. We continue to promote the freedom of peaceful assembly and association, freedom of opinion, expression, and access to information, and the freedom of the media online and offline. We note with deep regret that deterioration in Belarus regarding its violations of Convention No. 87, Convention No. 98 and other labour rights in recent years.
4. We condemn the ongoing violence employed by Belarusian authorities against peaceful protestors and the numerous cases of arbitrary detention, imprisonment, torture and sexual violence. We remain even more concerned, as these attacks on trade union activists and leaders have further intensified in retaliation for them having stood up against Belarus’s involvement in Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.
5. We share the deep concerns expressed by the ILO over the arbitrary arrests and continued detention of 23 trade unionists, including a GB member, the reports of searches on the Belarusian Congress of Democratic Trade Unions (BKDP) and other trade union premises, as well as home searches by Belarusian security forces. We call for their immediate and unconditional release.
6. We urge the authorities to investigate all human and labour rights violations in an independent and impartial manner and to hold accountable those responsible. In particular, we urge the authorities to rapidly investigate the order on July 18, 2022, by the Supreme Court of Belarus on the liquidation of the Belarusian Congress of Democratic Trade Unions (BKDP) and its four members: the Belarusian Independent Trade Union (BITU), the Trade Union of Radio and Electronic Workers (REP), the Free Trade Union of Belarus (SPB) and the Free Trade Union of Metalworkers (SPM).
7. Ensuring the full respect of workers’ rights and freedoms is not optional, and we call on Belarus to follow up on their obligations that they committed themselves to by being a member of the ILO and by ratifying the fundamental Conventions of the ILO.
8. Chair, it is with deep regret that we take note of the lack of meaningful progress towards the implementation of the 2004 Commission of Inquiry recommendations, and the evident lack of commitment on the side of the Belarusian government to its obligations under the ILO constitution. Even though the Committee on the Application of Standards has had this matter on its agenda for nearly 25 years, and despite the establishment of a Commission of Inquiry more than 18 years ago, there has been no visible improvement – on the contrary, recent years have seen a constant worsening of the situation.
9. Considering the above, the EU and its Member States support the application of Article 33 of the Constitution and support placing the matter on the agenda of the 111^th International Labour Conference, as suggested in the draft decision point. We request that the Office provides a detailed background note outlining all of the possible measures well in advance, ideally a month before the start of the March Governing Body, to allow for an in-depth and detailed consideration of the options by all constituents.

Thank you, Chair.

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