The Governing Body of the International Labour Organization (ILO) has demanded that the Belarusian authorities return passports to former political prisoners and leaders of independent trade unions Aliaksandr Yarashuk and Henadz Fiadynich, as well as restore their pension payments. This was announced by the Chairman of the Belarusian Congress of Democratic Trade Unions (BKDP) and member of the ILO Governing Body Aliaksandr Yarashuk.
The decision was adopted on 24 November at a Governing Body session in Geneva. Yarashuk could not attend in person due to the absence of documents and participated online. According to the trade union leader, the discussion again concerned systematic violations of workers’ rights and the rights of independent trade unions in Belarus. He recalled that the country remains under Paragraph 33 of the ILO Constitution — the strictest measure ever applied by the organization. The article allows for sanctions in cases of gross and persistent failure to comply with the recommendations of an ILO Commission of Inquiry or decisions of the UN International Court of Justice. In more than a century of the ILO’s existence, this mechanism has been used only twice — against Myanmar and Belarus.
“As expected, the authorities again went into complete denial, to use criminal jargon. Not only did they refuse to fulfil the requirements set out in the paragraph, they also began ignoring the ILO’s special envoy on this issue, Brazilian lawyer Lelio Bentes Corrêa. A week ago, we met with Lelio in Vilnius, where he flew specifically to meet me and Henadz Fiadynich,” Yarashuk wrote on Facebook.
According to him, most members of the Governing Body spoke harshly about the actions of the Belarusian authorities. The representative of the Belarusian government, in turn, accused the ILO of bias and slander against the country.
“He did not spare destructive epithets towards my organization, the Belarusian Congress of Democratic Trade Unions, and its representatives, who are now based in Bremen, Germany, after the Supreme Court liquidated the organization in 2022,” Yarashuk said.
The vote on the issue took place on 27 November. According to Yarashuk, Belarus’s Permanent Representative to the UN Office in Geneva, Larysa Belskaya, demanded a re-vote after the results were announced, but the outcome remained unchanged: 40 members voted in favor, 9 abstained, and 2 voted against. Among the priority measures listed in the document is the requirement to return passports to Yarashuk and Fiadynich and to restore their pension payments.
Yarashuk noted that he does not expect the Belarusian authorities to carry out the decision immediately, but emphasized that the ILO member states that supported the resolution by an overwhelming majority also bear responsibility for preserving the organization’s authority.
“I am not naïve enough to expect that after the vote the authorities will immediately rush to return the rights taken from workers, reverse the liquidation of the BKDP and its independent unions, or comply with the demand to release our 20 imprisoned colleagues. It is also unlikely that my passport will be sent to Vilnius by diplomatic mail anytime soon, along with permission to reinstate my pension.
But the countries that voted for this decision with such a majority understand that the stakes are too high for them. Their reputation, and the ILO’s reputation as a whole, is on the line. And they know that Belarus’s challenge must receive a convincing response,” he emphasized.
Yarashuk added that he hopes to be able to leave Lithuania in time for the next ILO Governing Body session in March 2026 and attend it in person.
“The game is far from over. And undoubtedly the main developments are still ahead. We will await the March session of the ILO Governing Body in Geneva. By that time, I will surely be allowed to travel and will take part in the meeting directly — and I will certainly share the details with you, friends,” he said.
Aliaksandr Yarashuk was sentenced to four years in prison in December 2022. The head of the BKDP was charged with active participation in actions grossly violating public order, conspiracy to seize state power, violent change of the constitutional order, and other actions allegedly aimed at harming Belarus’s national security. Yarashuk and Fiadynich were among the political prisoners released on 11 September 2025 and forcibly taken to Lithuania.