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Chairperson,
I have the honour to speak for the European Union and its member states. As Austria, currently exercising the EU presidency is not a member of the Governing Body, I do so on behalf of the Presidency.
The Acceding Countries Bulgaria and Romania, the Candidate Countries Turkey, Croatia* and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia*, the Countries of the Stabilisation and Association Process and potential candidates Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro as well as Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova and Switzerland align themselves with this declaration.
1. For many years the EU has been watching with increasing concern the precarious human rights situation in Belarus, a member of the Governing Body, and has not ceased to express its deep dismay over the systematic infringements on fundamental freedoms and rights including those of particular concern to working people, social partners and – in the context of international cooperation – to ILO. The EU will not keep silent on these developments. Our basic positions have been stated in a number of Council Conclusions and Declarations by the Presidency, the latest on 22, 24 and 25 March when the EU took position with regard to the conduct of the Presidential elections that were fundamentally flawed and the then following, completely unacceptable measures taken by the Belarusian authorities against peaceful demonstrators. The EU urges the Government, in line with its international commitments, to allow the people of Belarus to exercise their rights of assembly, association and freedom of expression. We are gravely concerned that the Belarus Government continues to repress and detain people exercising these fundamental rights and call upon it to immediately release those already deprived of their liberty. We reiterate our commitment to further strengthen the support for civil society and for democratization in Belarus.
Chairperson,
2. In its last statement on the subject of Belarus during the 93rd session of the ILC the EU expressed its expectations that the Government of Belarus implements in a comprehensive manner the conclusions of the Commission of Inquiry by giving full effect in law and practice to all the points as far as the application of Convention No.87 is concerned.
3. Only a few months ago the Governing Body took note of the very serious concerns and regrets expressed by the Committee on Freedom of Association with respect to the behaviour and the lack of positive action of the Belarusian Government. The Committee, with the approval by the Governing Body, addressed therefore once again a number of strong recommendations and requests to the Government of Belarus.
4. Following, inter alia, the discussions at the ILC the European Commission decided on 17 August 2005 to monitor and evaluate the situation in Belarus with a view of a temporary withdrawal of trade preferences under the Generalised System of Preferences as a result of the persistent non-respect for internationally accepted legal obligations and standards as they are enshrined in Conventions no. 87 and no. 98.
5. This monitoring period expires on 30 March 2006. Without a formal commitment by Belarus before 1 April 2006 to conform within eight months with the 12 Recommendations of the ILO Commission of Inquiry, the Government of Belarus could be confronted with the next steps in the GSP procedure.
6. One such opportunity to move in the right direction and to start meeting the expectations of the constituents of this organisation was the ILO mission to Belarus in January of this year. This mission was asked for by the Conference Committee on the Application of Standards and accepted by Belarus with the objective to assist in the drafting of the legislative amendments requested by the Commission of Inquiry and to evaluate the measures taken by the Government to implement the Commission’s recommendations.
7. The report of this mission forms the basis of the CFA recommendations to the GB. Like the Committee the EU notes with the greatest concern the conclusions to which the ILO mission had come.
8. Although the Government and its institutions claim to be subscribing to a pluralism based on the acceptance of different views and respect of persons expressing these views, the reality of their daily behaviour would seem to contradict that.
9. It is particularly shocking to read the last sentence in the missions report and I quote: “The lights are progressively going out for those trade union organizations, which do not want to conform to the absolute majority line expanded by the FPB, with the massive support of the state system.”
10. Among the issues raised in the report of the Committee the EU finds the information (in para. 14 of the report GB.295/8/2 on Belarus) concerning the amendment to the Criminal Code extremely disturbing. And it is equally highly alarming that the Office had to seek assurances from the Permanent Mission of Belarus that persons meeting the mission would be fully protected from any negative consequence for having cooperated with the mission.
11. The report of the mission underlines the fact that the government of Belarus is unwilling to implement the recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry.
12. In concluding its intervention the EU stresses its support for the Committee’s recommendations and urges the Belarusian Government in the strongest terms to take immediate action to implement all the recommendations and in doing so bring its behaviour in line with all its international obligations, especially with regard to the existence of an independent trade union movement in the country.
Thank you Chairperson.
* Croatia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.
