In Berlin, the question of how to restore freedom of association in Belarus was discussed
- May 27
- 5 min read
On 25 May, an international conference entitled “Workers’ rights are human rights. ILO mechanism Article 33 to bring back freedom of association to Belarus” was held in Berlin, organised by the Salidarnast e.V. and the Belarusian Congress of Democratic Trade Unions (BKDP).
The event brought together representatives of Belarusian independent trade unions, international trade union associations, human rights organisations, as well as structures of the International Labour Organization and the United Nations. The programme was built around four key themes: the mechanism of ILO Article 33, violations of labour rights in Belarus, the international response, and coordination of action ahead of the International Labour Conference in Geneva.
It was symbolic that the Berlin meeting took place just a few days before the Belarus issue is once again due to be considered at the international level. For that reason, the overall tone of the conference was not only analytical but also practical: how to ensure that Article 33 of the ILO Constitution is transformed from an international position into a real instrument of pressure on the Belarusian authorities. It was precisely this logic that the organisers placed at the centre of the final panel.
Before the event began, participants stressed that this was not simply “one of Belarus’s problems”, but a fundamental challenge to the entire international system for the protection of labour rights. The right to freedom of association, as was repeatedly emphasised during the discussions, is not a narrow professional issue but one of the foundations of democracy and human rights. That is why the assault on independent trade unions in Belarus must be seen as part of a much broader process of destroying civic space.
Special attention was paid to the way Belarus has ignored the recommendations of the International Labour Organization for more than twenty years. Oksana Wolfson, an ILO expert, recalled the long history of engagement between the Belarusian government and international monitoring mechanisms, beginning with the recommendations issued in 2004. Gocha Aleksandria, a specialist in workers’ activities at the ILO Bureau, for his part, drew attention to a striking contradiction: in its official reporting on the Sustainable Development Goals, Belarus presents high scores, yet remains silent on the issue of freedom of association. The gap between official Belarusian reporting and reality is one of the major problems faced by international organisations when assessing the situation in the country.
During the first panel, concern was also expressed that, in the Belarus case, Russia and Belarus are trying to undermine the very logic of how international institutions function. It was noted that, for the first time on this issue, they insisted on a vote where the traditional principle of consensus normally applies. In the view of the experts, this is not a mere procedural detail but an alarming signal: if ILO mechanisms begin to be replaced by political pressure, this could create a precedent for other authoritarian states as well.
The second part of the conference focused on the real cost of repression. Human rights defenders stated that the human rights situation in Belarus did not improve in 2025, but continued to deteriorate. Their attention centred on the right to work, access to employment, fair pay, discrimination, forced labour, and the criminalisation of any form of independent self-organisation. According to data presented at the conference, around 1,220 organisations have been liquidated in Belarus since 2020, including all independent trade unions and the BKDP; 55 trade unionists have been placed on “extremist” lists and 11 on “terrorist” lists. These figures were presented not merely as statistics, but as evidence that repression continues even after people are released from prison — through deprivation of rights, restrictions on the right to professional activity, social isolation, and the impossibility of returning to normal life.
A major part of the discussion concerned forced labour. Yauhen Dzenisenka presented an analysis of the system ofPaapa Danquah, legal and HTUR Director (ITUC), Gocha Aleksandria (ILO) and Oksana Wolfson (ILO) compulsory job placement for students and young specialists, describing it as one form of forced labour. Human rights defenders proposed looking at forced labour more broadly — as an instrument of torture used by the Belarusian authorities against political prisoners. In their assessment, there are around two thousand documented cases of this kind. Siarhei Antusevich, who himself went through forced labour in a penal colony, spoke of a person’s total defencelessness: there is no possibility of complaining about working conditions, pay, or exploitation. Maksim Pazniakou added the key point: if the sentences imposed on political prisoners are themselves unlawful, then the labour to which they are subjected is also forced labour.
The third panel, moderated by former UN Special Rapporteur on Belarus Anaïs Marin, was devoted to the international response. A clear message emerged: the release of one, two, or even several well-known political prisoners does not solve the underlying problem. Speaking online, the ILO Special Envoy for Belarus, Lélio Bentes Corrêa, noted that the Belarusian government still refuses to recognise his mandate and continues to reject cooperation, despite the fact that no significant positive changes have occurred during the period of his work. Of particular importance was his remark on the main priority: after speaking with released trade union leaders, he came to the conclusion that the central focus of all efforts must be the release of those who remain in prison. He also said that he intended to present all the necessary information on Belarus at the International Labour Conference in Geneva and that he remained open to cooperation with all UN structures.
In the final block of the conference, Aliaksandr Yarashuk thanked the participants for the level at which the issue of violations of workers’ rights in Belarus is being discussed today, and stressed in particular that the application of Article 33 must not remain a symbolic gesture. In his view, this international measure should become a real factor bringing closer the release of Belarusian imprisoned trade unionists. The main message of his speech was that the work must be systematic, because a truly powerful international resource is now engaged in this cause.
The Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski also addressed participants by video message. As he was meeting Pope Leo XIV on the same day, he was unable to attend the conference in person. He expressed a very simple and stark point: today, no organisations remain in Belarus capable of defending workers’ rights. He reminded the audience that political prisoners are used in penal colonies for work connected, among other things, with the needs of the Russian war machine. His closing words became, in effect, the moral conclusion of the conference: the defence of workers’ rights is impossible without independent trade unions. Long live the workers — long live Belarus!
A joint statement had been prepared for the conference as a systematic summary of everything that had been said. It states that, since 2020, the authorities have forcibly liquidated all independent trade unions, and workers have effectively been deprived of the right to independent representation and defence of their interests. At the same time, as the document says, the Federation of Trade Unions of Belarus is de facto integrated into the state system and cannot perform the role of an independent representative of workers. The statement also emphasises that more than 20 trade union leaders and activists remain behind bars, while more than 50 people, although already released, continue to live under repressive restrictions. This document is expected to be formally adopted by human rights organisations in the near future.
Conference in Berlin demonstrated one important thing: the Belarusian case has long ceased to be an exclusively Belarusian issue. Especially since workers in Myanmar, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Iran, and dozens of other countries are facing similar problems.
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