BELARUS WILL NOT FULFILL ILO RECOMMENDATIONS

C O N F I D E N T I A L MINSK 001074

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR DRL/IL BOB HAGEN, EUR/UMB

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/07/2015
TAGS: ELAB PHUM PGOV BO
SUBJECT: BELARUS WILL NOT FULFILL ILO RECOMMENDATIONS


Classified by Charge Constance Phlipot for Reasons 1.4
(B,D)


1. (C) Summary: The deadline for Belarus to fulfill ILO
recommendations on labor rights is approaching, but Belarus
has yet to make any improvements. The ILO representative
in Minsk admitted that technically, the GOB has made some
"progress", but in reality, these recommendations are not
realized. The GOB has been reluctant to allow an ILO
delegation to visit and the ministries fail to answer
questions posed by the local ILO representation. ILO is
aware of the GOB's unwillingness to meet the
recommendations and will not agree to Belarus' requests for
extra counseling or time. ILO is expected to support the
European Commission's attempts to revoke Belarus' place
under the general system of preferences. End Summary.


2. (C) On July 22, Poloff met with the International Labor
Organization's (ILO) national correspondent in Minsk
Nikolai Tolmachev. Tolmachev acts as ILO's liaison with
the GOB and is one of only two ILO officials permanently
based in Belarus. Tolmachev highlighted the GOB's
insincerity in fulfilling ILO recommendations on labor
rights. He complained that once he is successful in
meeting government officials, they rarely give him any
answers and constantly send him on fruitless crusades from
ministry to ministry. Tolmachev noted that the GOB had
made "progress" in certain spheres, but only on paper. In
reality, the government rarely follows the laws it makes
while other active laws either contradict or cancel each
other.


3. (C) For example, the Ministry of Labor agreed to print
the ILO recommendations and policy in its internally
distributed department journal. Over 5,000 copies were
passed out, but the journal was much thicker than usual and
the ILO points were conveniently hidden in the last half of
the publication rather than at the beginning which most
people read. The government was also tasked to recreate
the National Council of Labor Issues, a three-party council
composed of independent unions, employers, and government
representatives that the GOB had liquidated in 2003. In
August, the GOB fulfilled this task, but only invited one
lawyer from the Belarusian Congress of Democratic Trade
Unions (BCDTU) as the union representative, excluding
former representatives such as BCDTU leader Aleksandr
Yaroshuk. The union part of the Council was grossly
underrepresented, but on paper, the GOB had fulfilled one
of its ILO obligations.


4. (U) On August 25, the GOB announced it had provided the
European Commission a report on its progress in meeting the
ILO's 12 recommendations. MFA Spokesman Ruslan Yesin
stated that the government has began to implement the
recommendations and stressed that Belarus, as a member of
the ILO, fulfills all international commitments as well as
pursues a policy to develop constructive dialog and
cooperation between its leadership and European
organizations. Belarus, however, would continue to reject
any attempts to politicize the trade union issue.


5. (C) Tolmachev refuted the GOB report on August 30,
noting that the GOB and ILO's relationship has become even
more stressed while the government continues to avoid
implementing the recommendations. ILO headquarters
intended to send a delegation to Minsk to review the labor
situation and witness first-hand the GOB's efforts to meet
the recommendations. However, according to Tolmachev, the
GOB does not want ILO officials in Belarus. ILO
Headquarters sent a letter to the Minister of Labor
requesting a meeting in the beginning of September, which
then went directly to the Council of Ministers and then to
President Lukashenko. Tolmachev received a response from
the government that no one in the ministries wanted to meet
with such a "low-level delegation."


6. (C) Tolmachev noted that the GOB continues to avoid
solving the most serious violations in ILO agreements, let
alone the most important recommendations. State-controlled
companies and factories continue to fire employees for
their political activities, memberships in unions, or other
spurious reasons. The GOB has made no effort to compensate
and/or rehire those that were let go.


7. (C) Tolmachev suspects the GOB will give the ILO a
detailed outline of the "progress" made in labor rights,
while asking for more counseling Q a move Tolmachev sees as
a GOB tactic to stall the ILO for a little longer.
However, Tolmachev claimed the ILO has had enough and would
most likely throw its support behind the European
Commission's efforts to suspend Belarus' status under the
generalized system of preferences. So far, the only EU
country not willing to support the move is Latvia, which
has a closer economic relationship to Belarus.

Comment
--------------


8. (C) It is obvious that Belarus has no intentions of
fulfilling ILO's recommendations. Several union officials
have reported increased government pressure through legal
audits, loss of registration, firings, and unfair
contracts, causing the few independent unions a loss in
membership, financial support, and the inability to perform
union duties, such as visiting work sites and surveying
employee conditions (septel). The ILO is aware of what is
happening and though Tolmachev claimed the ILO supports the
EC decision, it is still unknown how it will respond.

PHLIPOT