Global workers’ organizations call for end to rights violations in Belarus

May 28, BPN. Global workers’ rights organizations have called for an end to violations of human and labor rights in Belarus amid the government’s crackdown on independent trade unions.

“Trade unionism is not a crime! Trade unionism is not extremism!” reads the statement signed by 12 organizations and released on May 26.

The signatories include the International Trade Union Confederation, Public Services International, International Federation of Journalists and Building and Wood Worker’s International.

Belarusian authorities portray independent trade unionists as “extremists” and “terrorists” and signal that it is dangerous to be associated with the Belarusian Congress of Democratic Trade Unions, they said.

They called on the upcoming International Labor Conference to treat the Belarusian government as provided in the International Labor Organization’s constitution and pressure it to “reinstate the unions” and “release trade union leaders and activists.”