Human Rights Defender: Belarusian State University of Transport Had No Right To Send Students To Carrots Harvesting
- 2.10.2018, 13:15
Leanid Sudalenka has submitted a petition to the prosecutor’s office.
On October 1, human rights activist Leanid Sudalenka submitted a petition to the prosecutor’s office of Homel for the attention of Prosecutor Yury Bulynko, upon the fact of harvesdting carrots by the students of the Belarusian State University of Transport at OJSC “Vostok”. In the petition, he raised the issue of the illegality of interrupting the educational process and sending students to agricultural works during the study time, writes Homel "Spring."
The human rights activist draws the attention of the prosecutor to the provisions of the Conventions of the International Labor Organization, according to which forced labor is prohibited in any form. Forced labor is officially prohibited by article 41 of the Constitution of Belarus.
- The labor code of our country calls forced labor any work under the threat of any punishment. It is clear that, by virtue of their direct dependence on the dean's office, students will be silent in this situation. For this reason, we ask the prosecutor's office to conduct a check, during which, first of all, to give a legal assessment of the fact of attracting students to agricultural works during academic hours,” Sudalenka said.
In addition, questions are raised in relation to the age of each of the students involved, the legality of concluding contracts with them for the provision of agricultural harvesting services, and carrying out appropriate instructions on the safety of these works.
Leanid Sudalenka recalls the tragedy in Maladechna in 2015, when a schoolgirl died during potato harvesting.
- After the tragedy, not only schoolchildren, but also students and young people were left in peace and no longer sent for harvest. As we see, the memory of the officials from education turned out to be too short,” added the human rights activist.
Last week, third-year students of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering of the Belarusian State University of Transport were attracted to Vostok OJSC to harvest carrots during study time, which is confirmed both by the deputy director for the ideological work of the agricultural enterprise Natallia Samafalava and dean of the educational institution Fiodar Satyrou.