BKDP Awarded the AFL-CIO George Meany–Lane Kirkland Human Rights Award

The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) has awarded the Belarusian Congress of Democratic Trade Unions (BKDP) the George Meany–Lane Kirkland Human Rights Award. This was announced in an official AFL-CIO statement.

In its statement, the AFL-CIO stresses that the Belarusian case is a “global warning” about what authoritarianism leads to: the concentration of power, the erosion of workers’ rights, and the disregard of international standards.

Regarding Belarus, the text points to decades of systematic persecution of independent trade unions and workers, which intensified after the 2020 protests: the arrest of trade union leaders and activists on trumped-up charges, the forced dissolution of independent unions, and a propaganda campaign branding unions as “extremist” and “terrorist” organisations. According to the AFL-CIO, more than 200 trade union leaders and activists have been imprisoned since 2020.

The AFL-CIO also specifically mentions the release on 11 September 2025 of Aliaksandr Yarashuk, Gennadz Fiadynich, and a number of other political prisoners, noting that it was accompanied by a new level of pressure: the confiscation of identity documents and de facto deportation. The statement notes that most leaders of Belarus’s independent trade unions remain in exile today, unable to work freely or move without restrictions.

The award ceremony will take place on 7 June 2026 in Minneapolis, USA, as part of the AFL-CIO convention. For BKDP, this award continues the international recognition of Belarus’s independent trade union movement. Earlier, solidarity and contributions to the struggle for labour rights and freedom of association were recognised through the Arthur Svensson International Prize: one award went to Belarus’s independent trade unions in 2021, and another to BKDP leader Aliaksandr Yarashuk in 2025.

The AFL-CIO George Meany–Lane Kirkland Human Rights Award was established in 1981 and is presented to labour movements and their leaders who, despite serious obstacles, stand up for workers’ rights.

Source: AFL-CIO

Read in blr and rus