Fiji mineworkers take their case to ILO and Human Rights Council
February 9, 2010 10:50 pm
SUVA, Feb. 9 — The Fiji Mineworkers Union (FMU) members who have been on strike at Vatukoula Gold Mine for over 19 years have now taken their grievance to the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the Human Rights Council.
The Union said on Tuesday they had no option but to send a formal communication with documentary evidence of violations of the ILO Conventions which Fiji has ratified, as well as human rights breaches, to the international bodies.
They have been ignored over the years despite their plight of inhumane conditions they have had to work under despite their hard work at the Vatukoula Gold Mines.
They said there is no other avenue left in Fiji to explore because their grievances have been ignored by successive governments since they first went on strike in 1991.
The FMU members are still picketing at Vatukoula on Tuesday.
Attempts to have the striking miners evicted from their homes as well as their picket site at the mine have so far been unsuccessful.
Some FMU members had received notices from the Housing Authority,whose houses they still occupied at Vatukoula, but appeals by their lawyer to the Authority have put off the notices for the time being.
However, the FMU are fearful that their members are living on borrowed time and that only their communication to the ILO and Human Rights Council will prevent them from being forcibly removed from the area.
The Vatukoula Goldmine has changed hands a number of times in recent years and the Deed of Settlement between the new company and the government does not intend to cover the striking members of the FMU.
The ILO has written to the FMU to acknowledge that their communication has been received for consideration by the ILO Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations and the Committee on Freedom of Association. Due process procedures for addressing the communication will follow.
The FMU last week sent a similar communication to the relevant committee of the Human Rights Council in relation to human rights issues arising from the strike, especially the right to life, liberty, freedom of association and freedom of expression, fair labor relations, as well as the right to health, housing, education and to a safe and adequate water supply.
The Human Rights Council is to examine Fiji's human rights record on February 11 in Geneva.
The FMU is now awaiting the results of deliberations from both ILO and the relevant Human Rights Council committee before deciding what further steps to take. (PNA/Xinhua)
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