Trade unions in Afghanistan have a brief and turbulent history, beginning in 1967 and effectively ending with the

Islamic state An Islamic state is a state that has a form of government based on Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a translation of the Arabic term ...

of the Mujahideen. There has been no reported

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ...

activity since the military intervention and removal of the

Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalist, militant Islamist, jihadist, and Pasht ...

regime. Afghanistan has not ratified the ILO conventions; the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 and the

Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 The Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention (1949No 98is an International Labour Organization Convention. It is one of eight ILO fundamental conventions. Its counterpart on the general principle of freedom of association is th ...

History

The first trade unions in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

were formed in 1967. The People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan established the Central Council of Afghan Trade Unions (CCATU) in 1978. In December 1979 the CCATU was purged and restructured by the intervening

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

regime into the sole Afghan trade union. The CCATU functioned along similar lines as other Soviet trade unions, claiming to work both for the improvement of working and living conditions, and "defending the gains made by the Sowr (i.e. 1978) Revolution." At the 1990 Congress the CCATU became the National Workers' Union of Afghanistan (NUWA), retaining most of the previous leadership. In 1992 with the dominance of the Mujahideen, and the declaration of an Islamic state, the NUWA ceased to exist. The New Unionism Networ
Global Union Directory
lists about a dozen unions functioning in Afghanistan today, along with membership numbers and contact details.

References

{{Portal, Organized labour