This is beginning to amuse, but… Yesterday, the Governing Body of the International Labour Organization (ILO) decided to apply paragraph 33 of its Statute against Belarus, citing ignorance of its own recommendations, violation of workers’ rights and trade unions
According to the “Rabochy Ruch”, a community recognized as extremist in Belarus, the decision was almost unanimous. Fifty-four votes out of 56 were cast in favour of the application of paragraph 33. Only representatives of Russia and China were “against”, as expected.
Of course, the Belarusian “fugitive” opposition, for which the worse for the home country is, the better, is already celebrating its victory. Those who are especially restrained even speak about “the last nail in the coffin of the dictatorship” and that the ILO may deprive Lukashenko of all his export money.
However, so far there is no real reason to rejoice. ILO is a bureaucratic and non-transparent body, that is why the sanctions will not be adopted any time soon. Nor is it clear what these sanctions will ultimately turn out to be.
International union officials will now have until March to draw up measures and then approve them at a conference in June. But the ILO has no direct leverage of its own. It cannot directly impose any sanctions but can only address the international community.
But the jubilant Zmagaras prefer not to talk about this. Instead, they cite the example of Myanmar, the only instance in which the ILO has invoked paragraph 33 against a state and it proved effective.
This was in 2001. The junta that came to power in that country was not a soft touch and tackled the problem of strikes radically – those who tried to go on strike were simply chained to their workplaces. The ILO appealed to all countries to break off all relations with Myanmar and many heeded this call. The result was a major economic crisis.
You must agree that times have changed considerably since that time and it will not do any good for Belarus. The year 2001 was the time of the greatest power of the United States. Then the self-appointed hegemon could do anything on the world scene, and there was no power that could oppose it. Myanmar and its unattractive junta were clearly not the kind of country over which anyone would want to challenge the Americans.
Now the hegemon is in its decline, the global world is split and the voices of the delegations of Russia and China, the main economic partners of Belarus, have clearly demonstrated that they will not listen to it, should such a decision be taken. Belarus itself has long been under sanctions, and the new package is unlikely to seriously worsen its situation.
The already imposed sanctions only accelerated the economic integration with Russia, increased its share in foreign trade and participation of Belarusian enterprises in the Russian import substitution programmes. Therefore, if new sanctions are announced, the main result will be even greater cohesion between the two states.
The Belarusian “fugitives” are afraid of that like fire, but they are incapable of analyzing the consequences of their actions and appeals.
But what is all the fuss about? During the events of 2020 the Belarusian opposition has repeatedly tried to revolt the workers. General strikes were announced, different ultimatums were issued, those who participated in these strikes were promised a huge sum of money.
Yes, at the peak of the protests, columns of factory workers with placards did indeed march around Minsk, and Lukashenko was even booed during a speech at the Minsk Wheel Tractor Plant. But then it all went downhill.
The “general” strike proved to be far from general, and its participants still speak ill of Andrei Strizhak, who promised a rain of euros and dollars.
Many of them have already been fired, and some who distinguished themselves during the riots have even served time. But only a few have seen the money. Naturally, after the collapse of the riot the authorities went hard on the instigators, which prompted claims from the ILO.
As to the trade unions – yes, not everything is perfect in the trade union movement in Belarus. The official trade union federation in Belarus is totally controlled by the authorities and cannot argue with them. Perhaps for the trade unions it is a minus. But the main part of the liquidated independent trade unions has not fulfilled its functions for a long time.
It got to the point that the REP (Radio-Electronics Industry Workers’ Union) included anyone – entrepreneurs, unemployed, professional activists, workers of anything. But I don’t remember any employees of this very industry.
In recent years, these were no longer so much trade unions, but rather agents of Western political influence, living not off workers’ dues, but off foreign grants. For which, in fact, they paid the price.
Artem Agafonov, Minsk, PolitNavigator