Elsinore, November 27 1998 (ICFTU OnLine): The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) will hold an international trade union conference in Kosovo to discuss "the trade union role in building a democratic civil society based on equal rights for all citizens nationalities and ethnic communities". The move was announced at the end of a three-day meeting of the ICFTU Executive Board in Elsinore (Denmark).

During discussions on the Kosovo situation, the Executive Board, which is composed of senior trade union leaders from all five continents, reiterated its long-standing conviction that peace and stability in the region depends on the full respect of human rights. The Board repeated its condemnation of rights abuses by the Milosevic regime and said the ICFTU will continue to give maximum support to the democratic forces in Serbia which are largely represented by its local affiliate, Nezavisnost.

The decision on the trade union conference in Kosovo is linked to the establishment of the verification mission of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe whose terms of reference call upon it to maintain close liaison with political parties and other organisations in Kosovo. The verification mission mandate also includes assistance in the establishment of Kosovo institutions and the ICFTU insists that democratic trade unions should be seen a key institution of civil society.

The ICFTU said it would co-operate with the mission in monitoring respect for human and trade union rights in Kosovo and will supply the OSCE with relevant information channelled through trade union sources in Kosovo.

The ICFTU conference which the ICFTU wants to organise "as quickly as possible" also forms part of the ICFTU continued support to the Kosovo trade union movement which the ICFTU plans to further re-inforce in order to help it rebuild its structures and play its full role in building a civil society.

The Brussels-based ICFTU is the world’s largest trade union organisation. It groups 211 national trade union centres in 143 countries representing over 125 million workers world-wide.