GENEVA, SWITZERLAND —
The International Labor Organization (ILO) launched a commission of inquiry on Wednesday into complaints that Venezuela is not upholding standards including freedom of association and workers' rights to organize, a spokesman said.
The decision by the ILO's Governing Body is rare and follows the cancellation of a high-level ILO mission in January because the government did not confirm ILO officials could meet the people they wanted to.
The complaint was brought by the leading business group Fedecamaras, long at odds with the government.
"They set up a commission of inquiry...it was adopted by consensus," ILO spokesman Hans von Rohland told Reuters. The last such ILO probe was launched into Zimbabwe in 2008, he said.
