“Belarusian authorities paint a different reality but they have practically no support”

On June 7, 2025, as part of the International Labour Conference that is being held in Geneva, the Committee on the Applications of Standards (CAS) had a special sitting.

The participants discussed measures proposed by the ILO Governing Body for the implementation of Article 33 of the ILO Constitution that has been applied to the Government of Belarus for violations of the right to freedom of association and the failure to comply with the Commission of Inquiry’s recommendations.

The discussion gathered 45 people from various states across the world, including representatives of the Belarusian Congress of Democratic Trade Unions (BKDP) and the Government of Belarus.

In particular, the Deputy Minister for Labour and Social Protection of Belarus Ihar Staravoitau claimed that the political prisoners had been “convicted for breaking the law and not for their trade union activities” and that “measures will be taken, if they do not clash with the country’s interests” and he accused the Western countries of politicizing the issue and using “pressure mechanisms against undesired countries”.

Acting Chair of the Belarusian Congress of Democratic Trade Unions (BKDP) Maksim Pazniakou has told “Salidarnast” that the stance of the Belarusian Government and the pro-Government Trade Union Federation of Belarus (FPB) remains unchanged year in year out:

Maksim Pazniakou

“This is the stance of complete denial of any problems. However, despite all their “staunchness” and efforts to somehow paint a different reality for the international community, they have practically no support. At the sitting, we have seen and heard contributions in support of the Belarusian authorities coming from very few countries: Russia, partly China and Turkmenistan, Cuba, Iran, Pakistan, Algeria, and Zimbabwe.

“The Belarusian delegation was very much frustrated with intervention of the Brazilian workers’ representative who denounced the repressions against independent unions and the violation of the right to freedom of association.

“By the way, there has not been a single contribution in support of the Belarusian Government’s position coming from workers.

“All information provided at the sitting on repressions against trade union leaders and activists in Belarus, the destruction of independent unions, and other violations of workers’ rights in the country is well known, documented, and confirmed not only by the International Labour Organization’s experts but also by the UN Special Rapporteur on Belarus and a group of independent UN experts, as well as numerous human rights organizations. So, in my opinion, the Belarusian authorities denying all this information look silly.

“We have called upon the Belarusian Government to change their position and start constructive cooperation with the International Labour Organization. For the ILO is a unique organization, it can and should be a forum for an honest and serious discussion of Belarus; and the first step in that direction should be the release of all imprisoned unionists.

“In any case, we are trying to find ways to change the situation and resolve at least some of the issues. Whatever the Belarusian authorities’ representatives may say, the whole civilized world supports us in our aspirations.”

Based on the sitting’s outcomes, the Committee will prepare its conclusions which will be submitted to the Conference for approval next week.

“This is disregard for international institutions”

The Workers’ Group representative Postma Tjalling said at the sitting that the Government of Belarus has taken no real steps since the time of the latest ILO Resolution and that the refusal to cooperate with the ILO is a proof of “disregard for international institutions”.

He also said that the political prisoners’ atrocious detention conditions - the overcrowded cells and deplorable lack of hygiene – amounted to “torture”.

Tjalling also stressed the monopolistic situation of the Trade Union Federation of Belarus and the infringement of the trade union independence principle.

Kaizer Moyane speaking for the Employers’ Group called upon the Government to immediately engage in constructive dialogue with the ILO, release the prisoners and receive the ILO mission.

Representative of the EU, Canada, the USA, South Africa, the Philippines, Japan and Morocco acknowledged that workers’ rights violations and persecution of unionists in Belarus go on, the unionists are branded “terrorists” and ill-treated in prisons.

They have also called for stopping the elimination of independent unions and receiving an ILO mission, releasing all imprisoned unionists, putting a stop to persecutions and the monopolization of the trade union domain by the Government-controlled FPB.   

At the CAS sitting, Ihar Staravoitau, apart from denying, yet again, the existence of the problems the whole world is talking about, stated that application of Article 33 of the ILO Constitution to Belarus is “one of the most erroneous documents in the whole history of the Organization”, and the resolution on Belarus should be repealed.

We shall remind you that in 2023, after the Belarusian authorities had ignore the ILO recommendations to cease the repressions and violations of workers’ rights, the Organization applied Article 33 of its Constitution.

Thus, Belarus became the second country in the world during more than 100 years of the ILO history to which this Article was applied. This is a clear evidence of how serious the violations of trade union rights perpetrated by the Belarusian authorities are.

Historically, from 2000 to 2012, this kind of decision was in effect only for Myanmar with its ubiquitous practice of forced labour. Then the situation showed improvement and the Article 33 was no longer applied to this member-state.

However, in 2021, Myanmar suffered a coup d’Etat which triggered harsh repressions continuing to this date. For this reason, the current ILO Conference adopted a resolution re-applying Article 33 to Myanmar. So, Belarus is no longer the only rogue country; it now has a “fellow in distress”.

By the way, in 2021, the Belarusian authorities, as famous “champion of lawfulness”, voted against the UN resolution condemning the military coup, ever since that time the two countries “shared friendship as families”.

For instance, in March 2025, Belarus was visited by a delegation from Myanmar headed by the general and also prime-minister Min Aung Hlaing who grabbed the power as a result of the coup. The two sides discussed prospects for trade and economic cooperation.

Lukashenka’s regime has ignored all recommendations

So, what is Article 33 and why has it so rarely been used in practice? The Article exists since 1919 — from the time the ILO started functioning — and stipulates the possibility of applying sanctions for gross and systematic failure to implement recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry of the decisions of the UN International Court of Justice.

For over 17 years, the ILO was recording violations of workers’ rights and freedom of association and the persecution of independent trade unions in Belarus, calling upon the authorities to implement its recommendations and correct the situation. But as the authorities ignored all those recommendations and, in fact, denied there were any such problems at all, the ILO, in the end, decided to adopt a resolution applying Article 33 to Belarus.

Concrete measure for the implementation of the Article have been proposed by the Governing Body, the ILO executive body. In particular, the International Labour Organization itself shall stop providing any technical assistance and cooperating with the Belarusian Government save for direct assistance in the immediate implementation of the Commission for Inquiry recommendations, as well as inform intenratio9nal institutions about the Belarusian Government’s disregard for the Commission’s recommendations.

The ILO Constituents — the Governments, the employers (business), and the workers (unions) — are expected to revise their relations with the Government of Belarus and take appropriate measures to make sure that it will not be able to use such relations for continued violations of workers’ rights and their freedom of association.

In other words, to put it simply, Article 33 provides for taking economic and other measures that can potentially influence the Government of Belarus to adhere to its international obligations in the area of workers’ rights.

For instance, one of such measures is the demand to admit an ILO tripartite mission to the country and let it visit the imprisoned independent union leaders and activists. And although Belarus refuses to cooperate with the ILO, the latter, with the help of the international labour community, continues putting pressure on the country’s authorities so that workers’ rights are not just a hollow sound for Lukashenka’s regime.

On June 14, 2025, there will be a meeting of the ILO Governing Body in Geneva where the name of the special envoy for the engagement with the Belarusian Government will be announced and an ILO working group with a UN Commissioner will be established.

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