Box 9.1 (cont.) Art. 5 ESC With a view to ensuring or promoting the freedom of workers and employers to form local, national or international organisations for the protection of their economic and social interests and to join those organisations, the Parties undertake that national law shall not be such as to impair, nor shall it be so applied as to impair, this freedom. The extent to which the guarantees provided for in this article shall apply to the police shall be determined by national laws or regulations. The principle governing the application to the members of the armed forces of these guarantees and the extent to which they shall apply to persons in this category shall equally be determined by national laws or regulations. Art. 6 ESC With a view to ensuring the effective exercise of the right to bargain collectively, the Parties undertake: 1 to promote joint consultation between workers and employers; 2 to promote, where necessary and appropriate, machinery for voluntary negotiations between employers or employers’ organisations and workers’ organisations, with a view to the regulation of terms and conditions of employment by means of collective agreements; 3 to promote the establishment and use of appropriate machinery for conciliation and voluntary arbitration for the settlement of labour disputes; and recognise: 4 the right of workers and employers to collective action in cases of conflicts of interest, including the right to strike, subject to obligations that might arise out of collective agreements previously entered into. In addition to these, Art. 12 of the EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights provides that everyone has the right to freedom of association at all levels, in particular in political, trade-union, and civic matters. This implies the right of everyone to form and to join trade unions for the protection of their interests. The Charter is notable because the right is not qualified in the case of members of the armed services. However, it does not have the status of a directly enforceable legal norm. Since the Madrid Conference of 1983, the OSCE has recognized the right of workers to “establish and join trade unions”, within the law of the respective state.86 At the Copenhagen Conference in 1990, the OSCE added the right of individuals to form political parties and political organizations,87 along with the corollary right to peaceful assembly and demonstration.88 Any restrictions of these rights should be prescribed by law.89 The Copenhagen Conference also recognized the right of trade unions to determine their own membership.90 Alongside these rights are the more general provisions relating to freedom of expression, respect for others, and minority cultural differences.91 None of the OSCE documents contain any specific commitments in relation to unions in the armed forces. The International Labour Organization recognizes union rights in a number of international conventions, including the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948; the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949; and the Collective Bargaining Convention, 1981. These establish important rights for workers, including the right: to establish and, subject only to the rules of the organization concerned, to join organizations of their own choosing without previous authorization (1948 Convention, Art. 2); to trade-union autonomy, free from interference by public authorities (1948 Convention, Art. 3); and to establish and join federations of trade unions (1948 Convention, Art. 5). The 1981 Convention encourages states to provide and promote the use of voluntary negotiations between employers or employers’ organizations and work86  Madrid 1983 (Questions Relating to Security in Europe: Principles). 87  Copenhagen 1990, para. 7.6. 88  Also recognized at the Paris Conference of 1990 (A New Era of Democracy, Peace and Unity). 89  Copenhagen 1990, para. 9.2. 90  Ibid., para. 9.3. 91  Ibid., para. 9 et seq. 68 Handbook on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of Armed Forces Personnel