September 6, 2011—Swaziland’s Independence Day on September 6 will be used by the international workers’ movement to highlight the ongoing attacks on freedoms and workers’ rights in the Kingdom, says the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC).

	ITUC Deputy General Secretary Wellington Chibebe delivers a letter to the Swaziland Embassy in Brussels. Photo by ITUC

The most recent in a series of attacks on democratic freedoms was the detention on August 24 of a number of young student union leaders after a protest about the closure of the University of Swaziland.

Trade unions, including those in Belgium, South Africa, and the UK, will deliver letters to their Swazi ambassadors calling on King Mswati III to put in place fully fledged human and trade union rights. Mswati is one of the last remaining absolute monarchs in the world.

Speaking from a protest outside the Swaziland Embassy in Brussels organized by the ITUC and Belgian trade unions, ITUC Deputy General Secretary Wellington Chibebe said: “We stand in support with Swazi workers in demanding constitutional reform, multi-party democracy, and the full respect of trade union rights.

“The issue of democracy can never be wished away," he continued. “It is not a question of whether there will be reform but a question of when. For worker rights, the time is now.”

Read the letter from the ITUC to the Prime Minister of Swaziland

Cross-posted from ITUC Online, September 6, 2011.