{"id":409,"date":"2016-12-08T03:04:14","date_gmt":"2016-12-08T03:04:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/codir.net\/?p=409"},"modified":"2016-12-08T03:04:14","modified_gmt":"2016-12-08T03:04:14","slug":"gravest-concerns-about-the-continuing-detention-intimidation-and-repression-of-trade-unionists-in-iran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/codir.net\/?p=409","title":{"rendered":"Gravest concerns about the continuing detention, intimidation and repression of trade unionists in Iran"},"content":{"rendered":"

By e- mail<\/em>: media@rouhani.ir, <\/em><\/a>info_leader@leader.ir, <\/em><\/a>iran@un.int,<\/em><\/a> mission.iran@ties.itu.int<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

To: Hassan Rouhani<\/p>\n

President of the Islamic Republic of Iran<\/p>\n

Cc:\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations, New York; Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani, Head of the Judiciary; Dr Ali Rabiei, Minister of Co-operatives, Labour and Social Welfare<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

November 2016<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Dear President Hassan Rouhani,<\/p>\n

The International Centre for Trade Union Rights is writing to express its gravest concerns about the continuing detention, intimidation and repression of trade unionists in Iran.<\/p>\n

ICTUR understands that on 7 October, Esmail Abdi, general secretary of the Iranian Teachers\u2019 Trade Association, received a confirmation of a six-year prison sentence for \u2018assembling and colluding against national security\u2019. \u00a0It is understood that Abdi was first detained after attempting \u00a0to \u00a0leave \u00a0Iran \u00a0to \u00a0attend \u00a0the \u00a07th \u00a0World \u00a0Congress \u00a0of Education International (EI) in Ottawa, Canada in July 2015. On 15<\/p>\n

October, two other labour activists, Jafar Azimzadeh, chairman of the Free Union of the Iranian Workers, and Shapour Ehsanirad, were sentenced to 11 years of imprisonment each for \u2018establishing unions and propaganda against the regime\u2019. Azimzadeh was already serving a six-year prison sentence handed down in 2015 and had been granted a retrial following a hunger strike.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year in May, it is reported that seventeen workers from Iran\u2019s Agh Dareh gold mine in the northwestern city of Tikaab were publicly flogged, after they protested against the firing of 350 of their colleagues. It is understood that their employer filed a complaint against them for the protest action, and the sentence was carried out by the security services.<\/p>\n

Such \u00a0attacks \u00a0on, \u00a0arrests \u00a0and \u00a0sentencing\u00a0 of \u00a0workers \u00a0for \u00a0activities related to the defence of their interests constitute serious violations of trade union rights, as enshrined in ILO Conventions 87 and 98, and\u00a0are furthermore a violation of the principles enshrined in the United\u00a0Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.<\/p>\n

ICTUR recalls that the Islamic Republic of Iran is a founding member of the International Labour Organisation.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0It was one of the first countries in the sub-region to join the Organisation. Iran has ratified<\/p>\n

13 \u00a0ILO Conventions including five \u00a0of \u00a0the \u00a0eight \u00a0core \u00a0Conventions (covering the elimination of forced labour, child labour and discrimination), though not Conventions 87 or 98 on freedom of association and collective bargaining. \u00a0The Government is, however, obliged to recognise the principle of freedom of association by virtue of its adherence to the Constitution of the International Labour Organisation(1). The obligation to respect the fundamental principles of freedom of association is established under the terms of membership of the ILO, and the terms of this obligation were re-stated in 1998 with the proclamation of the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work<\/em>.<\/p>\n

ICTUR recalls and wishes to draw the authorities\u2019 attention to comments issued some years ago by a supervisory body of the ILO, the Committee on Freedom of Association, when it reported in Case No. 2566 (Report No 351), at paragraph 984 its view on the overall situation for trade union rights and freedom of association in the country: \u2018\u2026the Committee considers that the situation obtaining in the country may be characterised by regular violations of civil liberties and a systematic use of the criminal law to punish trade unionists for engaging in legitimate trade union activities\u2019. \u00a0In the same case, at paragraph 988, the Committee added that it was \u2018compelled to express its deep concern with the seriousness of the trade union climate in the Islamic Republic of Iran and calls the Governing Body\u2019s special attention to the situation\u2019).<\/p>\n

\"azimzadeh\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Government is also obliged to recognise the principle of freedom of \u00a0association \u00a0by \u00a0virtue \u00a0of \u00a0its \u00a0ratifications \u00a0of \u00a0the \u00a0International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.\u00a0 \u00a0The Islamic Republic of Iran is a founding member of the United Nations. \u00a0It signed both the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights on 4 April\u00a01968 and ratified those instruments together on 24 June 1975.<\/p>\n

ICCPR contains extensive protection for trade union rights under Article 22, subject only to such restrictions as: i) are prescribed by law and ii) are necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security or public safety, public order, the protection of public health or morals or the protection of the rights and freedoms of others. \u00a0And the ICESCR similarly contains extensive protection for trade union rights under Article 8, which are explicitly cross-referenced to the standards protected by the ILO under Convention 87.<\/p>\n

ICTUR condemns in \u00a0the\u00a0 strongest terms these violations of \u00a0trade union and workers\u2019 rights, which have resulted in the indiscriminate detention, torture and persecution of trade unionists. ICTUR calls on the Iranian authorities to take all measures necessary to ensure the release of trade union leaders and members from detention, and to drop all charges against them.<\/p>\n

We further take this opportunity to urge again the Government of Iran to \u00a0ratify \u00a0ILO \u00a0Convention \u00a087 \u00a0on \u00a0Freedom \u00a0of \u00a0Association \u00a0and Protection of the Right to Organise, and ILO Convention 98 on the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining.<\/p>\n

Yours Faithfully,<\/p>\n

Daniel Blackburn, Director<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1 D<\/em>igest of decisions and principles of the Freedom of Association Committee of the<\/em><\/p>\n

G<\/em>overnin<\/em>g Body of the ILO<\/em>, Fifth (revised) edition 2006, paras. 17-26.<\/p>\n

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