The Baath Party is the Syrian Regime’s Instrument to Control Trade Unions in Syria

SNHR Condemns the Dismissal of the Agricultural Engineers Union Head

The Hague – The Syrian Network for Human Rights today, Thursday, August 8, 2024, released a report entitled, ‘Brief Report: The Baath Party is the Syrian Regime’s Instrument to Control Trade Unions in Syria’ concerning the Baath Party’s domination of the work of trade unions in Syria. The report was released in the wake of the issuance of Decision No. 37 by the Syrian regime’s Central Command of the Arab Socialist Baath Party on July 17, 2024, relieving the then-head of the agricultural engineers of his duties, and appointing another one.

The 12-page report notes that Decision No. 37 contravenes the 2012 Constitution, adopted unilaterally by the Syrian regime, which establishes that unions are to be autonomous, and Act No. 8 of 2018 on Regulating the Vocation of Agricultural Engineering, which establishes a specific mechanism for dismissing the head of the agricultural engineers’ union. Furthermore, the fact that such a decision was made and enforced is emblematic of a deeper structural dysfunction within trade unions operating under the Baath Party’s total control. In fact, the Baath Party treats this and every other trade union as merely subsidiary extensions of its own organization rather than as independent entities. As such, the Baath Party intrudes into the operations of all trade unions and similar associations, from processes such as selecting candidates to approving the outcomes of members’ votes, not to mention, as in this case, exerting absolute power over the appointment and dismissal of union heads and members. To reduce this blatant intervention to a conventional, formal decision reflects the mindset of the Baath Party which, from its own standpoint, is simply implementing a decision on an internal matter by replacing one trade union head with another, as though the dynamics within unions were simply an internal party matter without unions having any governing ordinances of their own regulating the mechanisms by which such issues are decided. The report adds that this decision shows utter contempt for the thousands of agricultural engineers, who as the union’s members should have the exclusive right to select and dismiss their own representatives.

As the report explains, this decision comes in the context of the regime’s attempts to further centralize the decision-making process within the Baath Party. In a broader sense, Decision No. 37 is an extension of the policies maintained by the Baath Party since its 1963 coup. Those policies have seen the Baath Party ensuring its absolute and uncontested control over any political movement, or any potential source of engagement in independent civil, social, cultural, or union action of any form. By the 1970s, the Baath Party had legalized its absolute control over the state and society through Article 8 of the 1973 Constitution. Whatever slim prospects were left thereafter for a genuine civil society were completely eradicated on April 9, 1980, when Hafez Assad dissolved the unions, and had their members arrested. Subsequently, these unions were supplanted by new bodies subservient to the ruling authority and intricately linked to the regime’s security apparatus. In that, the Baath Party established full control over trade unions and associations and their millions of members. These unions have been forced to raise, adopt, and repeat the banners, symbols, and slogans of the Baath Party, and even to hold or participate in pro-regime marches marking any milestone or occasion that the ruling authority wishes to see celebrated or observed.

The report stresses that, when the popular uprising began in mid-March 2011, the Syrian regime further re-evaluated the roles of grassroots unions, incorporating them into its authoritarian networks to crush dissent and enforce more draconian control of Syrian society. In this, the regime’s security apparatus instructed unions and associations to revoke the membership of any members participating in the protests, and to submit security reports about them to the regime’s security authorities, leading to their prosecution and dismissal, in addition to denying them their financial rights. While the Syrian regime removed the infamous Article 8, which formally established the Baath Party as the leader of the Syrian state and society, from the 2012 Constitution, nothing changed on the ground, with the party continuing to enjoy the very same powers and privileges, exerting a brutal paternalistic authority over the Syrian state and society. In this role, the Baath Party still controls all institutions which should be independent platforms to serve the interests of the Syrian people, such as trade unions and the People’s Assembly of Syria.

The report concludes that the Baath Party’s intrusions into the work of trade unions violate the freedom of union work, as established in international and domestic laws. Moreover, the decision to dismiss the head of agricultural engineers and name a new one is completely invalid on the grounds of the lack of competence of those responsible. It also violates international and domestic laws, including the 2012 Constitution and Act No. 8 of 2018 on Regulating the Vocation of Agricultural Engineering. Furthermore, it infringes upon the jurisdiction of the Agricultural Engineers’ Union’s General Assembly.

The report calls on the international community to provide technical and financial support to enhance the capabilities of independent trade unions in Syria in order to help them exercise their rights in a free and autonomous way. The international community must also suspend the membership of Syria’s trade unions in international union bodies, until they have attained autonomy and freedom of union work in the way prescribed in international treaties.

Additionally, the report calls on the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) to intensify efforts to monitor and document violations against trade unions in Syria, and to release periodic reports on this topic to raise awareness at the international level.

The report also calls on the Syrian regime to respect the constitution and domestic and international laws that guarantee the autonomy of trade unions, and to repeal all laws and articles of legislation that give the Baath Party privileged powers over the unions, and to ensure that all laws are compatible with the Constitution and international law, in addition to making other recommendations.