ILO Demands Return Of Passports To Fedynich And Yaroshuk

And resume payment of pensions.

On March 30, the ILO Governing Body met in Geneva to review the situation of workers' rights in Belarus for the second time since November 2025. The November meeting listed numerous violations, including the freedom of independent trade unions, and put forward recommendations to improve the situation, reports Radye Svaboda.

The meeting also considered the issue of Belarusian trade union leaders Alexander Yaroshuk and Gennady Fedynich, whom the authorities released from detention last year but deported from the country, depriving them of their pensions.

Yaroshuk said the Belarusian government's letter to the ILO, which says his passport is allegedly "unknown where" and that he has been deprived of his pension for allegedly "committing a crime against the state," has not been signed by anyone. "This letter is not signed by anyone - that's what they do when they respond to international bodies. But it is clear to me that the Ministry of Labor has prepared and sent a response on behalf of the government," said Alexander Yaroshuk.

The ILO Council reacted to the case of Yaroshuk and Fedynich with the following note in the final resolution of the session on March 30: "The Council noted with the greatest concern the refusal of the Belarusian government to return the confiscated passports to Messrs. Yaroshuk and Fedynich and to resume payment of their pensions, and called on the government to do so without further delay."

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