Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independents 4 Change) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle and I appreciate that. I must first say that I am disappointed that the Tánaiste is not here to take this Topical Issue matter. These are very important issues. Time is allocated for Topical Issue Debate to deal with these affairs. We will, however, receive a stock reply from the Minister of State who is here at the moment.

We have brought this issue to the House due to the worryingly rapid decline of the health and conditions for imprisoned members of independent trade unions in Belarus. This centres largely around the ongoing persecution of members of the Belarusian Congress of Democratic Trade Unions and its affiliated unions. When the repression started, 19 trade union leaders were arrested, followed by months of arrests of ordinary members, trials and imprisonment. The Belarusian Radio and Electronic Industry Workers' Union, also known as REP, has been the hardest hit. Its office and accounts were taken over by the State and its members have been mercilessly persecuted. Belonging to the REP is itself now a crime and punishable by up to six years imprisonment. Their leader, Gennady Fedynich, was given the harshest sentence of nine years in maximum security. He is a cancer survivor and is heavily diabetic. There are now serious fears for his life. The cruelty of Belarusian prisons is unspeakable. Imprisoned members of trade unions are facing solitary confinement, denial of medical care, hard labour and freezing and inhumane conditions. Belarus has been sanctioned by the International Labour Organization, ILO, and has been condemned by the International Trade Union Confederation, the UN Human Rights Commission and the European Parliament. Our own Irish Congress of Trade Unions has written to the Minister for Foreign Affairs on the issue. The situation for imprisoned trade unionists is rapidly getting worse. This has now become a matter of life or death. I ask the Government to make any intervention possible to prioritise an immediate guarantee of full medical care, visitation by family and inspections by the international groups as requested by the ILO. I also ask the Government to explore all avenues to pressure Belarus to respect freedom of assembly through membership of trade unions, to remove the ban on independent trade unions and release the prisoners. This must include taking a strong stance condemning all oppression of trade unions and trade union members across the world.

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