Joint Statement of the Association for Defending Victims of Terrorism and Worker House of Iran on the Occasion of International Workers Day
Joint Statement of the Association for Defending Victims of Terrorism and Worker House of Iran on the Occasion of International Workers Day
(ILO) shall set an agenda for the return of job seekers who have been deceived by Mujahedin-e Khalq terrorist group
Commemorating the International Workers’ Day, Association for Defending Victims of Terrorism and Worker House of Iran congratulate the occasion to the large labour and production community and demonstrate their solidarity with the workers affected by terrorism around the world.
The first day of May 1886 is the reminiscent of the crime committed by Chicago police in an attack on workers protesting against Rule 10 Hours of Work and for the right to form Trade Unions. In addition, a number of the workers were sentenced to death during an unfair trial. Commemoration of the anniversary of the day by the workers all over the world led to declaration of May 1 as the International Workers’ Day by International Workers’ Congress in Paris in 1889.
Despite various international instruments such as ILO Conventions, the International Covenant on Economic, Social Rights (Articles 6, 7 and 8) and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Articles 23 and 24), workers have been subjected to various forms of assault, massacre and abuse by governments and terrorist and Mafia Organizations in such a way that workers constitute a significant percentage of victims of terrorism and armed conflicts.
In fact, workers get injured in blind and targeted assassination in two ways; the presence and extent of workers in various sectors of society has increased the vulnerability of this group in blind assassinations like terrorist bombings. Assassinating dynamic workers, terrorists aim to damage the production cycle and the economic structure of a society and consequently cause the societies’ economic development to weaken.
Assassination of four thousand of the self-employed by MKO terrorist group in the early 80s including 1192 workers, execution of 13 Christian workers in Egypt by ISIS in February 2015 and also kidnapping 300 workers of a cement factory in Damascus and executing 175 of them in April 2016 are some of the minor instances of the destructive effects of terrorism on the workers’ community in different countries requiring the special attention to be played by of international societies, International Labour Organization (ILO) in particular, to protect the rights of workers.
Assassination is not the only issue of violation of human rights of workers and one can remember the captive workers at the hands of terrorists’ groups like MKO. In fact, misusing the issue of employment, MKO deceived many young job seekers in Iran under the pretext of working in European countries and then they illegally transferred the job seekers to their own terrorist organization in Iraq, seized the identification documents, forced them to obtain military and terrorist training and forced labour. On the one hand this issue is contrary to the provisions of ILO Convention( 29) and a clear example of violations of human rights of individuals based on freedom in order to choose the kind of work as well as place of work (Article 23 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights). On the other hand it contradicts all the rules determining treatment with workers, amounting any sort of deception, in the course of employing worker, as an application of crime. To be added to this point, the families of these workers should also be considered as those who have suffered a lot and coped with a difficult life in the absence of their loved ones.
Accordingly, condemning such crimes, Association for Defending Victims of Terrorism and Worker House of Iran, call on international organizations the following items:
1- International Labour Organization (ILO) shall set an agenda for the issue of returning job seekers who have been deceived by Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO), captured in the heinous structure and lost their fundamental freedoms on account of paving the way for their freedom.
2- International Labour Organization (ILO) on behalf of the families of the workers, who were deceived under the pretext of getting a job by terrorist groups and are now trapped in terrorist structures, shall facilitate to bring legal actions against such groups by High Confederation of Workers in Iran and Association for Defending Victims of Terrorism at international courts to prevent such infringements.
3- No doubt, the families of the workers who have been killed or physically injured in terrorist attacks are experiencing difficult conditions and need special attention as insurance, legal, and psychosocial support by international institutions.
