U.S. National Statement on GB344 Resolution Entitled “Russian Federation’s Aggression Against Ukraine from the Perspective of the Mandate of the International Labour Organization”
Statement as Delivered by Ambassador Sheba Crocker
March 22, 2022
The foundation stone of the ILO’s original building here in Geneva has a Latin inscription, which reads, in English: “If you desire peace, cultivate justice.” For the more than one hundred years since its creation by the Treaty of Versailles that ended World War I, the ILO has tirelessly carried out its mandate to pursue universal and lasting peace through social justice.
From the ILO’s founding Constitution and the Declaration of Philadelphia, to the Centenary Declaration on the Future of Work, these fundamental aims and purposes, and the ILO’s work to achieve them, have endured.
As the resolution we will consider today acknowledges, the Russian Federation’s unprovoked, unjustified, and unlawful war against Ukraine, enabled by the Belarusian government, is grossly incompatible with the aims and purposes of the Organization and the principles governing ILO membership. The Russian Federation must immediately and unconditionally withdraw from Ukraine and cease its unlawful actions.
Beyond the unconscionable deaths of civilians, the war is displacing workers and employers, and destroying workplaces and critical infrastructure. The destruction of jobs and enterprises and the displacement of workers are already having devastating and incalculable impacts on the world of work in Ukraine and around the globe – and the impacts will be long-lasting.
As it has throughout its history, the ILO must rise in the name of peace and social justice. Through this resolution we — the governments, employers, and workers together — state unequivocally to the Russian government, and its enabler the Belarusian government, that we will hold them accountable for the unacceptable suffering of the people of Ukraine. And we stand firmly and strongly with Ukraine.
Chair, the United States supports adoption of the Resolution.
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