Brussels, 22 February 2018 (ITUC OnLine): The ITUC and the European Trade Union Confederation are calling on the European Commission to take up concerns about Kazakhstan's violations of freedom of association during a meeting of the EU-Kazakhstan Cooperation Council meeting on 26 February.

A letter (https://www.ituc-csi.org/ituc-etuc-letter-trade-union) from the two organisations to Federica Mogherini, European Commission High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy describes the government's failure to comply with ILO recommendations, unfounded legal actions against trade union officials, deregistration of independent union centre CITUK and harassment of union representatives.

ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow said "The Kazakh authorities are acting in violation of the country's Constitution and its international legal obligations to respect workers' rights to union membership. Kazakhstan is one of the top ten violators of workers' rights in the world, and we are calling on the EU to put this issue at the centre of their discussions with the government."

Luca Visentini, General Secretary of the ETUC said "The EU Kazakhstan Cooperation Council needs to discuss workers' rights in Kazakhstan. I know EU High Representative Mogherini has raised these issues with Kazakhstan in the past and sadly she needs to do so again."
The ITUC represents 207 million members of 331 affiliates in 163 countries and territories.