Eswatini - Trade unions under fire (2010)

In the absence of any credible political opposition, trade unions in Swaziland have been in the forefront of efforts to promote democracy. As a result, they have been a target of constant harassment and repression. Union leaders have been arrested, protesters beaten and political parties banned. Speaking at the International Labour Conference in June, the General Secretary of the Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions (SFTU), Jan Sithole reported that he had been a victim of police harassment and arrests, and that he and his family have been receiving death threats. At the end of its proceedings, the Conference’s Committee on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations of the ILO devoted a special paragraph to Swaziland in its report, a measure reserved for the worst cases of rights violations.