20th Session of the Administrative Council of the International Centre for Trade Union Rights
On Saturday 12 June, ICTUR hosted its annual Administrative Council discussions in Geneva, Switzerland. The high profile annual event brought together trade unions, lawyers, academics and human rights organisations to make recommendations on strategies and action for ICTUR’s work on trade union rights in the the year ahead.
Jurist’s inquiry: labour rights and impunity in Colombia

In the first of two key discussions, Colombian lawyer and ICTUR project coordinator Miguel Puerto (below) presented the findings of a jurists’ inquiry into trade union rights violations and impunity in Colombia undertaken by the International Commission for Labour Rights.

In the last week of March 2004 the International Commission for Labour Rights sent a mission of legal experts to Colombia to investigate violations of the right to life and liberty of trade unionists, the crisis of impunity that surrounds these violations and the systemic and systematic failings in the Colombian justice system that allow the violations to continue.
The participants were:

• Teodoro Sánchez de Bustamante, Labour Lawyers Association, Argentina;
• Sarah Lucy Cooper, Bar Human Rights Committee, UK;
• Efren Sandoval, UNSITRAGUA, Guatemala.

The ICLR report, which describes how thousands of trade unionists have been murdered with almost total impunity, demonstrates a clear set of recommendations aimed at all relevant actors in the country from the unions themselves through the legal profession to multinational corporations and the government.

Welcoming the ICLR report the leader of the USO oilworker’s union Gabriel Alvis said that Colombia’s trade unionists would continue to risk their lives and liberty in defence of their jobs and democracy.

Christine Parker of LO Norway pointed out that it is necessary to promote this report and others like it to government and employer members of the ILO. ICLR and ICTUR have now begun the task of promoting the report to trade unions, governments, employers and civil society worldwide.

The ICLR is an initiative of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers and the International Centre for Trade Union Rights. The Commission brings together labour law experts to undertake high profile actions to investigate labour rights abuses and fundamental breaches of ILO Conventions and the United Nations Charter.

Trade union rights emerging in Iraq?
In the second discussion, ICTUR invited the international representative of the recently established Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions, Abdullah Muhsin (above), to address the Administrative Council. In a speech that passionately denounced the former regime and those who cooperated with it, Abdullah Muhsin set out the evolving and difficult situation in which trade unions operate in his country.

The IFTU, he explained, had opposed the invasion of Iraq, but welcomed the opportunities that might become available in the future, not least in terms of the advancement of trade union and workers rights. For now workers found that the occupying powers continued to enforce legislation enacted by the previous regime, which bans collective bargaining in the public sector. This presented a challenge to the trade union movement, as did the ongoing development of a new labour code. Mr Muhsin hoped the new legislation would comply with ILO standards, but called for the assistance of experts to help assess the new laws.

Calling for the political and practical support of trade unions worldwide, Abdullah Muhsin explained that Iraq’s unions lacked skills, resources and experience of trade unionism. These are areas in which international solidarity would be welcome. The British firefighters’ union was thanked for its support, but Mr Muhsin expressed regret that other potential donors may be being too cautious at a time when organisation of strong representative unions in Iraq is urgently needed.

ICTUR Vice President Hassan A Sunmonu of the Organisation for African Trade Union Unity commended IFTU in their efforts and recommended that they should approach ILO’s ACTRAV for technical assistance with the development of trade union programmes. Drawing on post-conflict experiences, the OATUU leader emphasised the importance of working with all relevant civil society actors in the country. In particular, Mr Sunmonu stressed that IFTU should find ways of working in cooperation with the regional trade union organisation, the International Confederation of Arab Trade Unions.

ICTUR’s activities
The Council approved the report of ICTUR Director Daniel Blackburn (copies available on request from the ICTUR office). ICTUR has significantly raised its international profile during the past year through focussed project work, including a strong international project to highlight violations in Colombia and a wider range of publications. The Director’s report set out the main activities of ICTUR as:

• Monitoring, investigating, reporting and responding to trade union rights violations worldwide;
• Providing a forum for discussion between trade unions of the world, human rights organisations, NGOs and legal and academic experts;
• Conducting and publishing research and project work;
• Publishing the journal, International Union Rights;
• Organising meetings, symposia and conferences at the national and international level;
• Campaigning for trade union rights;
• Raising awareness of trade union rights.
  

The Council expressed support for specific projects such as the World Map of Trade Union Rights and a proposal to develop a series of world maps on various labour rights in 2005. The Council also expressed strong support for the journal International Union Rights and noted that IUR remains ICTUR’s key source of income. The Council expressed regret that financial limitations had led to the suspension of publication of the French language edition of IUR (Droits syndicaux internationaux). Delegates urged ICTUR to restart the French edition if possible, and Latin American delegates insisted that a Spanish edition was greatly needed.