Brussels, 2 February (ITUC OnLine)
Khalil Ibrahim Al-Mashhadani,Vice-President of the GFIW (General Federation of Iraqi Workers) as well as General Secretary of the Arab Federation of Building and Wood Workers, was injured in a bomb attack on Wednesday Jan 31st. Prior to the founding of the GFIW with the merger of the former GFTU, IFTU and
GFITU, Khalil held the position of President of the former GFITU. The
ITUC firmly condemns what it considers to be a targeted attack on a
trade union activist. For more information please click here: www.ituc-csi.org,/a>
The ITUC also recalls that Iraq, as a member of the International Labour
Organisation (ILO), has an obligation to respect the fundamental labour
standards established by it, particularly Convention 87 on freedom of
association, and urged the Iraqi authorities to immediately ratify this
convention. I
This case is unfortunately not unique. Dr. Adnan Al-Abed, legal
counsellor to the GFIW and Professor of Law at "Al-Nahrain University"
was found murdered together with two of his colleagues on Wednesday
morning, three days after the three professors were kidnapped by armed
militants in front of the faculty of law. Wednesday saw also a car bomb
targeting the building housing the GFIW's branch in the Nineveh
governorate on Wednesday morning, resulting in injuries to many workers
and trade unionists.
It is far from the fist time that a trade unionist has been murdered or
abducted in Iraq due to their trade union activities. The ITUC strongly
urges the Iraqi authorities to ensure that this case is fully
investigated and that those responsible are detained and brought to
justice. It also calls for immediate steps to be taken to ensure that
deliberate targeting of trade unionists is stopped.
Founded on 1 November 2006, the ITUC represents 168 million workers in
153 countries and territories and has 304 national affiliates.
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For more information, please contact the ITUC Press Department on +32 2
224 0204 or +32 476 62 10 18.