Meeting of ILO Delegation with Independent Labor Activists in Tehran

Reports indicate that officials from the International Labour Organization (ILO) met with several independent labor activists in Tehran. This meeting was held at the request of the ILO. The delegation included Diti Anders, head of fundamental rights conventions, Ariel Castro, head of labor legal affairs, and Sanchir Tagshimeng, head of employer affairs. Mehdi Kouhestani-Nejad, an advisor to the International Confederation of Trade Unions and a member of the Canadian Labour Congress, stated that the ILO delegation traveled to Iran to assess the implementation of Conventions 87 and 98, as well as the rights to organize and strike for workers. He told Radio Farda that during their stay in Tehran from April 20 to 23, the delegation met with representatives of government-affiliated labor organizations. Earlier, ILNA news agency reported on April 23 about the meeting, noting that the ILO delegation met with officials from the Ministry of Cooperatives, Labour, and Social Welfare and labor groups. Diti Anders told the officials of the Workers' House that the main goal of the delegation's visit to Iran was for the ILO to better understand the situation of social partners, workers, and employers. He identified the implementation of Conventions 87 and 98 and the 2008 ILO declaration for fair globalization as important issues for the organization. Independent labor organizations have repeatedly criticized the Iranian government for not implementing these two conventions in recent years, while Iranian officials claim to have good interactions with labor organizations. Nevertheless, several labor activists have been arrested or imprisoned on security charges. Additionally, some workers in various regions of Iran have faced security and judicial actions alongside being dismissed from their jobs. This situation has drawn criticism from human rights organizations and international labor unions. According to ILNA, the head of the ILO's fundamental rights conventions indicated that 'many questions have arisen for us, and we hope to have an appropriate assessment of the findings of this trip.' In this context, Kouhestani-Nejad noted that the ILO delegation specifically requested to meet with members of independent labor organizations in Iran, adding that international labor unions supported this request and stated that they should meet with members or representatives of organizations fighting for workers' rights. He also pointed out that the delegation's visit was conducted at the request of the Ministry of Cooperatives, Labour, and Social Welfare. Kouhestani-Nejad further stated that international labor unions had asked the ILO to ensure that the meeting took place with guarantees from the Iranian government, ensuring the safety of members or representatives of independent labor organizations and recognizing these meetings. He mentioned that international labor unions had also provided a list of imprisoned labor activists to the ILO officials to discuss with Iranian authorities and demand their release. According to the report, the Ministry of Cooperatives, Labour, and Social Welfare contacted several independent labor activists and invited them to meet with the ILO delegation. Kouhestani-Nejad mentioned that during the meetings, independent labor activists raised issues concerning Iranian workers, and he stated that a report on this meeting would be published. He noted that this recent meeting in Tehran occurred under circumstances where 'the Ministry of Labour at the time and security forces had attempted to prevent the ILO delegation from meeting with independent labor activists at the Laleh Hotel in Tehran in 2003, and only Mahmoud Salehi and Mohsen Hakimi managed to meet with representatives of the ILO by climbing over a fence.'