At the annual conference of the International Labour Organization (ILO), delegates representing governments, employers and workers rebuffed the Arab states’ attempt to politicize the meeting by defeating the anti-Israel resolution.
Analysis: In the first days of the conference, Lebanon introduced a resolution on “the devastating effects of Israeli occupation and hostilities on the working conditions and the workers of Palestine and the other occupied Arab territories.” The Lebanese delegate then compared the Israelis to Nazis, a slander that has become a standard among Arab speakers at UN venues. In an attempt to customize the vilification of Israel to the labor forum, Israel was also accused of “massacring workers.”
The text of the resolution itself also made false accusations against Israel, such as condemning Israel for “the massacres that took place in Jenin camp.” It declared that Israel had not fulfilled Security Council resolution 425 about withdrawal from Lebanon, though Secretary-General Kofi Annan an the UN have confirmed that Israel has indeed fulfilled resolution 425. The resolution would also have established a standing ILO committee to examine the Israeli-Arab conflict, thus ensuring that the ILO would always be politicized.
On June 7, the delegates to the ILO conference voted on draft resolutions to establish their priority. The secret ballot placed the Arab proposal third, behind resolutions on “Social Dialogue” and on “Sustainable Development.” However, the anti-Israel resolution received more votes than those for “Gender Equality” or “Social Responsibility of Business.” Since only one resolution is usually dealt with at each ILO annual conference, the vote should ensure that the anti-Israel campaign at the labor conference remains limited to abusive rhetoric in the plenary session.
The Chairman of the Conference, Ambassador Jean-Jacques Elmiger of Switzerland, opened the general discussion by clarifying the ILO’s role in political conflicts. He reminded the delegates that the ILO has two main responsibilities: to defend the principles upon which the ILO was founded and to diffuse tensions. He asked each speaker to remember these principles. The ILO, he said, should not concern itself with issues that are being discussed by other UN bodies. He implored each speaker to keep to the topic at hand, and behave in a respectable manner.
His request was quickly discarded. The Egyptian Minister of Manpower and Immigration accused Israel of conducting “a campaign to destroy the Palestinians.” The Algerian delegate compared Israeli policies to Nazi policies. A Kuwaiti delegate charged Israel with conducting “a war of extermination… that did not distinguish between employers and workers.”
Despite these calumnies, the rejection of the unjust anti-Israel resolution by secret ballot provides hope that the ILO may not suffer the same debasement as the Commission on Human Rights.
