GENEVA, September 22, 2026 (WAFA) – The International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations (IUF) on Tuesday adopted a resolution in support of Palestinian workers and farmers.
In its eighth conference in Geneva today, the IUF adopted a resolution on labor rights in Palestine, despite an Israeli objection, after conference members approved the resolution and incorporated it into the IUF resolutions.
The delegation of the General Union of Agricultural and Food Industries Workers in Palestine presented the draft Palestinian resolution. It outlined the conditions of Palestinian workers and farmers and the challenges facing the agricultural sector, as well as the attacks and restrictions targeting them and their lands and livelihoods. The draft was subsequently discussed and adopted.
The resolution calls for protecting Palestinian workers and farmers from attacks, violations, displacement, land confiscation, and the destruction of crops, trees, livestock and agricultural facilities, and for ensuring their safe access to their lands, water sources and workplaces. It also calls for halting Israeli colonial settlement expansion and colonist terrorism and holding perpetrators accountable.
It advocates for launching an international trade union solidarity campaign during the 2026 olive harvest season to support Palestinian workers and farmers, ensure their access to their lands, protect their lives, property and crops, and promote the right to food and food security.
It calls on the IUF, in cooperation with the International Labour Organization (ILO), the United Nations (UN) and relevant bodies, to organize a visit by an international delegation or an independent monitoring and fact-finding team during the 2027 olive harvest season to document violations, monitor the conditions of workers and farmers, and prepare a report to be submitted to relevant international and trade union bodies.
The resolution stresses the importance of supporting trade unions, workers, farmers and the agricultural sector in the occupied West Bank and genocide-stricken Gaza Strip, and strengthening international cooperation and solidarity with the Palestine General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU) and the General Union of Agricultural and Food Industries Workers, in a manner that enhances their ability to defend the rights of workers and farmers and develop trade union organization in the agricultural sector.
The resolution welcomes steps taken by various countries to promote respect for international law, while calling on more governments to take effective measures to ensure that they do not support or finance Israeli colonial settlement activity, and reiterating support for the Palestinian people's right to self-determination and to establish their independent and sovereign state on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital, as per international law and UN resolutions.
The conference held a special session on Palestine, addressing the conditions of workers and farmers and the challenges facing the agricultural sector, particularly attacks on agricultural lands, the destruction of crops and facilities, and restrictions imposed on workers' and farmers' access to their lands, water sources and workplaces.
The Palestinian delegation that participated in the IUF conference affirmed that it would continue working with the IUF, its member unions, the ILO and relevant international bodies to follow up on the implementation of the resolution, strengthen the protection of Palestinian workers and farmers, support the agricultural sector, and defend the right to decent work, food, food security, and safe and dignified livelihoods.
K.F.
