The International Centre for Trade Union Rights
COLOMBIA BULLETIN: January - March 2006

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This edition features news and reports from the first three months of 2006 and information about a legal action centre created by ICTUR and the lawyers’ collective CAJAR in Bogotá that has now opened and has begun its work to challenge the crisis of impunity and to seek justice for the victims of trade union rights violations.
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Before we address the violations of human rights against trade unionists in Colombia during the first three months of 2006, it is necessary to summarise the catalogue of violations that took place during the previous year.

Between 1 January and 31 December 2005 70 unionists were assassinated, 260 received death threats, 56 were arbitrarily detained, seven were attacked with explosive devices and firearms, 32 were harassed and persecuted for their union activity, eight were forced to move, three were ‘disappeared’ and one trade unionist was the victim of an illegal search (without a warrant).
(This information was taken from the 2005 briefing of the Colombian National Trade Union School, ENS).

The ENS report highlight acts of violence against teachers, agricultural workers, health workers and trade union leaders. The figures show that acts of violence have decreased compared to 2004 but that at the same time there has been an increase in the harassment and persecution of unionised workers and a continuation of acts of violence against women trade unionists (in particular of unionised women teachers).

In conclusion, acts of violence against trade unionists continue at an alarming level and with an appalling impact on the human rights of trade unionists. The State must assume its responsibility by protecting workers and respecting their freedom.
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During the past three months ICTUR has received the following reports from Colombia, including serious violations of trade union rights:
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January, February and March 2006
2 January: Carlos Arciniegas Niño, of the agricultural workers’ union SINTRAINAGRO was forcibly dissappeared and later found in the Santander Department. He had been murdered and his body showed visible signs of torture.

Early January: the President of the state oil company ECOPETROL refused to sign a petition presented by the oil workers’ union USO in support of a new collective agreement. USO argues that this is a breach of Colombian labour law and that this case illustrates a failure by the Colombian State to implement ILO Convention 98.

19 January: Fernando Ramírez González a member of the Executive Committee of the mine and energy workers’ federation FUNTRAENERGETICA was dismissed in breach of the legally mandated process that protects the employment of trade unionists.

In February: the agricultural workers’ union FENSUAGRO received threats against leaders and their offices. These cases occurred in the Popayán office in the Cauca Department where a number of armed vehicles had been seen at the same time.

4 February: Plutarco Vargas Roldan, a member of the Bogotá section of the foodworkers’ union SINALTRAINAL and worker at the Coca Cola bottling plant received death threats against himself and his family in the form of letters delivered to his home.

14 February: Guillermo Zemana Bermeo, a member of the Cauca teachers’ union was ‘dissappeared’ and later found dead.

1 March: the Chief Prosecuter of Colombia named several people and called for their prosecution in court in relation to the attempted murder of the then trade union leader and current member of Congress Wilson Borja. Among those identified was a serving Major in the Colombia armed forces Cesar Maldonado who escaped from a military detention centre in November 2004.

2 March: Hector Diaz Serrano, a member of the oil workers’ union (USO) and an employee of the state oil company ECOPETROL at Camp Casabe was killed while waiting for his transport to work in Barrancabermeja in an area notoriously under the total control of paramilitaries.

21 March:Jaime Enrique Gomez Velasquez the former President of the telephone workers’ union in Bogotá and a former member of the Bogotá city council was ‘dissappeared’ while walking in the Cerros de Monserrate area.

27 March: Luís Arnulfo Quiroga, a member of the Arauca peasant farmers’ assocation was arrested and has since been held in arbitrary detention by the police.

31 March: the 296 Session of the Governing Body of the ILO called upon the Colombian government to take all necessary to bring an end to the violence against trade unionists. In addition the Governing Body considered a proposal to establish an office in Colombia with the objective of faciliating communication between the Colombian government and the ILO Committee on Freedom of Association as a first step to combat impunity and to promote the prinicples of freedom of assocation.

Late March: the government published recommendations made by the World Bank in November 2005 which called for a reduction to the level of the minimum wage. The CUT federation said that they could not understand the recommendations, and pointed out that that the Bank had recently expressed its concerns over high levels of poverty in Colombia.

1 April: the former Director of Information Technology at the Colombian security services DAS alleged that several DAS officials had given a black list of trade unionists’ names to paramilitary groups. Colombian news journal Semana published a copy of the list, which included the names of several trade unionists who had recently been murdered, had received death threats, or had been forced to leave the country.

Trade Union Rights Unit, Colombia
A legal action centre created by ICTUR and the lawyers’ collective CAJAR in Bogotá has now opened and has begun its work to challenge the crisis of impunity in Colombia and to seek justice for the victimes of trade union rights violations.

The project will set up and fund the initial operating costs of a legal action unit to co-ordinate a national legal strategy to respond to trade union rights violations and human rights violations against trade unionists. The Unit will be based at the CAJAR lawyers' collective.

The Unit will work closely with the ANTHOC, SINTRAUNICOL and ASPU trade unions to identify cases to pursue at local, national and international levels for maximum strategic impact on the labour rights situation.

The project will link directly with the human rights networks that will be established within the ANTHOC health workers' union under the Justice for Colombia / ANTHOC project and with the human rights officers in the SINTRAUNICOL and ASPU unions. CAJAR will use these networks as key evidence-gathering tools to support legal cases.

In addition, the CAJAR Trade Union Rights Unit will make a staff lawyer available to the ANTHOC human rights network for occasional human rights training sessions.

International support
The CAJAR lawyer will work with the trade unions to select key cases that should be pursued through the UN system and in other intra-governmental quasi-judicial forums.

An experienced Colombian human rights lawyer, who is already on staff at the ICTUR office in London, will provide expert legal support to the CAJAR unit on international cases.

The project goals are:
1. Provide advice and education on trade union rights and human rights matters to officers at all levels within ANTHOC, SINTRAUNICOL and ASPU to enable the unions and their legal representatives to initiate legal actions in specific cases of human rights violations against trade unionists. These actions will include criminal cases, disciplinary cases, compensation claims and other actions at national and international level.

2. Together with ANTHOC, SINTRAUNICOL and ASPU to select and pursue strategic legal actions that will make a major impact on a particular sector, such as actions before the constitutional court.

3. To secure criminal convictions of those responsible for human rights violations against trade unions, to secure reparations for the victims of human rights violations, to secure authoritative statements from the courts and quasi-judicial forums that expose and denounce human rights violations against trade unionists, and to secure the release of trade unionists from arbitrary detention.

4. Together with ANTHOC, SINTRAUNICOL and ASPU select strategic legal actions to be pursued in international forums.

5. Together with ANTHOC, SINTRAUNICOL, ASPU and ICTUR, make use of the juridical mechanisms and investigative agencies of the UN system of international human rights law for cases of violations of human rights and trade union rights. The objective will be to obtain: a) declarations of the international responsibilities of the State to provide effective guarantees for rights, and b) justice and reparation for victims and their families.

6. Assist ANTHOC, SINTRAUNICOL and ASPU with case preparation to make use of the mechanisms of the ILO to present cases and to protest against the violations of trade union rights.

Timescale
The project, funded by the UNISON International Trade Union Development Fund with additional support from Amnesty International UK Section Charitable Trust and LO-Norway, will begin on 1 March 2006, closing on 28 February 2007. ICTUR and CAJAR will continue to seek support to extend the project into 2008.

International Centre for Trade Union Rights,
177 Abbeville Road, London, SW4 9RL, UK
tel: +44 (0)20 7498 4700, fax: +44 (0)20 7498 0611,
web: www.ictur.org, email: ictur@ictur.org

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