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Sunday 8 April 2012

UNIONS: LETTER TO COMMONWEALTH

TUC letter to the Commonwealth Secretary-General

Mr Kamalesh Sharma

Secretary General
Commonwealth Secretariat
Marlborough House
Pall Mall
London SW1Y 5HX

Dear Secretary General

Swaziland: deregistration of the national trade union centre

The TUC, the voice of Britain at work and a member - through the 30 million members of the Commonwealth Trade Union Group (CTUG) - of the Commonwealth family, urges you to consider the suspension of the Kingdom of Swaziland from the Commonwealth due to its flagrant and repeated breaches of democratic, human and trade union rights.

This call, made initially at the Commonwealth People's Forum by the CTUG with the support of the Swazi trade union movement, has been further justified by the decision of the Swazi Government on 5 April to deregister the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA), formed last month by a merger of the two main national trade union confederations (SFL and SFTU) and the Swaziland National Association of Teachers. I enclose a letter I have, as part of an international protest, sent to the Swazi High Commissioner to London on that issue.

The Kingdom of Swaziland, despite its formal constitution, is no democracy, and is therefore outwith the Harare Principles of the Commonwealth. Action must be taken by the Commonwealth to uphold those Principles in Swaziland as is currently being done in respect of Fiji. In particular, I would urge you to impress upon the Government of Swaziland the need to avoid a confrontation with demonstrators for democracy on the forthcoming 12 April anniversary of the suspension of democracy.

Yours sincerely

BRENDAN BARBER

General Secretary

See also

UNION ATTACK: ‘SUSPEND SWAZILAND’

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2012/04/union-attack-suspend-swaziland.html

SWAZILAND GOVERNMENT ATTACKS TRADE UNIONS

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2012/04/union-congress-deregistered.html

UNION ATTACK: FULL TUC STATEMENT

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2012/04/union-attack-full-tuc-statement.html

UNION ATTACK: LETTER TO SWAZI HC

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2012/04/union-attack-letter-to-swazi-hc.html

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