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A. A. The complainants' allegations
A. A. The complainants' allegations
- Analysis of the Complaint
- 108 By a letter dated 7 November 1951 Mr. F. Makris, Secretary-General of the Greek General Labour Confederation, writing on behalf of that organisation, communicated to the Director-General of the International Labour Office a complaint relating to alleged infringements of freedom of association committed by the Government of the United Kingdom. He annexed to his complaint a document entitled " Great Britain violates basic trade union liberties of the Greek workers ".
- 109 The complainant makes the two following allegations:
- (a) A trade union congress convened by the Cyprus Workers' Confederation was prohibited by the British Government authorities in that island because the question of the union of Cyprus with Greece was included in its agenda. When requested by the Government to remove this question from the agenda, in which case the congress could take place, the Confederation refused because on previous occasions congresses dealing with similar questions had been authorised. The Government then adhered to its prohibition, being convinced that the congress was not a genuine trade union meeting but a meeting for political purposes.
- (b) Being invited by the Cyprus Workers' Confederation to attend this congress, certain representatives of the Greek General Labour Confederation, having obtained official passports from the Greek Government, asked the United Kingdom diplomatic authorities in Athens for the necessary visas to enter Cyprus. These visas, however, were refused because the congress had been prohibited as a result of its agenda including the question of the union of Cyprus with Greece. Certain officials of the British Embassy in Athens suggested to the Greek General Labour Confederation that it should intervene with the Cypriot organisation to induce the latter to remove the item dealing with the Union of Cyprus with Greece from the agenda of the congress, in which event the visas would be granted. This suggestion was categorically rejected by the Greek General Labour Confederation. In spite of protests made to the Embassy, to the British Trades Union Congress and to the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, the British authorities did not modify their attitude.
The Committee's recommendations
The Committee's recommendations
- 110. It is alleged that the diplomatic authorities of the United Kingdom, by refusing them the necessary visas, prevented the representatives of the Greek General Labour Confederation from participating in a trade union congress in Cyprus. The Committee, without expressing any view at the present time on the question whether the refusal of visas may in some cases have a direct bearing on the exercise of trade union rights, considers that in the present case the real question involved is not one of alleged infringement of trade union rights but rather a question as to the sovereign right of a country to grant or refuse visas to aliens who may wish to enter it, and is therefore not appropriate for examination by the present procedure.
- 111. The Committee, therefore, recommends that this part of the complaint should not be communicated to the United Kingdom Government.
- 112. The Committee will report its views concerning the other matters dealt with in the complaint when the United Kingdom Government has had the usual opportunity of furnishing its preliminary observations concerning them.
- 113. In one case the Committee recommends that a matter is appropriate for consideration by the Ad Hoc Committee on Forced Labour set up jointly by the United Nations and the International Labour Organisation rather than by the procedure for the examination of complaints concerning freedom of association.
