The International Centre for Trade Union Rights

BULLETIN 6: COLOMBIA, 11 April 2003

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During the past two weeks ICTUR has received the following reports concerning trade union rights in Colombia:
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21 March: Ana Paulina Tovar Gonzalez, daughter of Domingo Tovar Arrieta, Director of the Human Rights Department of the Central Unitaria de Trabajadores (CUT), Colombian Trade Union Confederation, was walking to the Barranquilla Hospital in Atlantico Department, where she is working on a university placement, she was stopped by two unidentified men. One of the men grabbed her and pushed her into a waiting car. She was reportedly punched several times in the car before she was able to climb out and get away.

This is the second attempted abduction of Ana Paulina Tovar Gonzalez this year. On 17 January she and her sister were reportedly followed by a group of men who tried to force her into their car. A passer-by came to the girls' aid and they were able to escape.

28 March: Domingo Tovar received a threatening call on his radio telephone, which had been provided by government human rights officials for his protection after previous threats and fears for his safety. The telephone call was from an unidentified woman who said, "ya estas sintiendo y vas a sentir mas" ("you are already feeling it and you're going to feel it more"). At the beginning of March, Domingo Tovar Arrieta gave information to the authorities about a paramilitary plan to kill several national trade union leaders, including Domingo Tovar Arrieta.

28 March: The telecom workers' union, USTC, expressed their solidarity with the struggle of the oil workers' union, USO, in defence of the national interest of the state company ECOPETROL. The unions reject what they describe as an aggressive approach to a labour conflict at ECOPETROL that is being pursued by the Colombian President Alvaro Uribe Velez and the President of ECOPETROL Isaac Yunovich.

30 March: A Federal Court in Miami USA accepted jurisdiction for a legal action against the main Latin American bottling plan for the multinational Coca-Cola, Panamerican Beverages (Panamco) of which Coca-Cola owns about 25 percent, and against Colombian bottling company Bebidas y Alimentos. The plaintiffs are seeking to establish that the companies involved bear some responsibility for a campaign of anti-union repression carried out at the Colombian bottling plant that reached its height between 1995 and 1996, when four trade unionists were murdered by paramilitaries. The Coca-Cola company itself has been dismissed from the action on the grounds that its bottling agreement did not give it 'explicit control' over labour issues, but the lawyers who brought the case intend to appeal this aspect of the judgement.

3 April: Around five thousand people participated in a demonstration in Barrancabermeja in protest at the policies of the Colombian government and the intended privatisation of the Colombian oil company ECOPETROL. Human rights organizations, trade unions, church, people in general, even the Council of Barrancabermeja expressed their support for the oil workers' union, USO, which is based in the city.

During April: Colombian trade unions issued a vigorous rejection of the attempt to submit a referendum to the Colombian people that would encroach upon trade union and collective bargaining rights in the public sector (Question 8 and 14) by means of a plebiscite. These rights are legally established in the Colombian Constitution as well as in International Labour standards, International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention 87 and 98 specifically.

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ICTUR has written to the Colombian authorities to protest these violations of trade union rights. We call for an end to the aggression and insist that the authorities implement and ensure full respect for the international legal standards that protect freedom of association.

For more information contact ICTUR: miguel@ictur.org

If you want to take action in support of these cases you can send letters of protest to the Colombian authorities at the following addresses:

President of the Republic of Colombia
Dr. Alvaro Uribe Velez
Palacio de Narino, Carrera 8 No.7-26 Santafe de Bogota, COLOMBIA
Fax: + 57 1 3375890 / 3420592
E-mail: auribe@presidencia.gov.co; rdh@presidencia.gov.co

Vicepresident of the Republic of Colombia
Francisco Santos - Consejeria Presidential de Derechos Humanos
Calle 7, No 6-54, Piso 3 Santafe de Bogota, COLOMBIA
Fax: 00 57 1 337 1351 E-mail: mdn@cable.net.co; infprotocol@mindefensa.gov.co; siden@mindefensa.gov.co

Minister of the Interior and Justice
Fernando Londono Hoyos Ministerio del Interior y Justicia
Palacio Echeverry, Carrera 8a, No.8-09, piso 2o., Santafe de Bogota, Colombia
Fax:00 57 1 286 8025 E-mail: mininterior@myrealbox.com

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