Siarhei Dyleuski: Only Drastic Measures Can Bring Rule Of Law Back In Belarus
- 14.06.2023, 13:21
The ILO resolution will significantly hurt the Lukashenka regime.
The International Labor Organization supported the resolution on Belarus. Article 33 of the ILO Constitution will apply to the Lukashenka regime.
Governments and representatives of employers of the countries that are members of the organization are invited to reconsider relations with the authorities of Belarus.
The leader of the Belarusian Association of Workers Siarhei Dyleuski gave an interview to the Charter97.org website. He told how this resolution will affect the situation in Belarus:
– First of all, this will have a very negative impact on the economic situation of the Lukashenka regime. I am ever more sure that workers won’t be pleased with this first if the article comes into full force. People will, roughly speaking, get less income. That’s clear because a total economic embargo entails such things, it will hit the Lukashenka regime and the country's economy as a whole and hard.
Belarus was such a transport hub between East and West and it still remains. This will negatively affect the income of the people but I believe that Belarusian workers are fully prepared for this.
– Actually, 301 representatives voted for the resolution and only 54 were against it. What does such support for the resolution mean?
– It was an expression of the opinion of the majority. This suggests that people who really think, sitting in these large offices, are well aware that other actions that can influence Lukashenka's regime have been exhausted. Nothing else will help except drastic measures. Roughly speaking, only radical actions can save the Belarusian workers who are already in prisons, who are subjected to this or that repression every day.
– What spheres for sanctions would you suggest?
– First of all, as I have always said, it is necessary to hit those sectors of the Belarusian industry that bring the greatest income to the Lukashenka regime, these are potash, nitrogen fertilizers and heavy engineering.
– If you could address the leaders and trade unions of these countries, what would you say to them? What can they do to help Belarusian workers?
– I would suggest them to follow the world history examples, that only drastic measures can save ordinary workers when there is “no time for laws” in the country. There are a lot of these examples, and a lot of just successful examples, when trade unions, precisely by tough measures, including the imposition of the economic embargo, returned the rule of law.
– What is the real situation with Belarusian workers in the country now?
– It is the same as it was in 2020. The economy is simply decreasing - wages are falling, and prices are rising. No matter how Belarusian statistics hide behind some fictitious figures, the real economic situation in the country is deplorable.
More and more people are leaving Belarusian enterprises they are heading to Europe. If in 2020-2021 it was more politically motivated, now we see a trend towards people leaving the country simply in search of a better life.
– Yesterday, the Hrodna Regional Court passed a sentence on an activist of an independent trade union at Hrodna Azot OJSC Maksim Senik. He was sentenced to 4 years. Did the Lukashists respond to the ILO in this way?
– No, it's just a repressive machine at work. The Lukashists do not take seriously the statements and any actions of the ILO. It's just a continuation of the repression. I think that in the coming months, there will be dozens and dozens of such convictions against members of trade unions.
– Do you think that trade unions all over the world will put pressure on their governments to impose sanctions against the Lukashenka regime?
– Trade unions are an organization that should initially stand up for the protection of the rights of workers. I have been very surprised over the past three years by the fact that European trade unions have not done this until today. As you remember, we put pressure to make application of the Article 33 possible because of the violation of workers' rights in Belarus for a long time. The first task of the world and European trade unions and the International Labor Organizations is precisely to protect the rights of workers. If they won't do this, then they are not real trade unions.