Stop the killings: thousands of trade unionists murdered!

On Tuesday 9 October ICTUR, together with Amnesty International UK section, convened a conference focused on the crisis of impunity in relation to assassinations and other human rights abuses experienced by the Colombian trade union movement.

The conference, held at Amnesty International UK Section headquarters in London, brought together trade unionists and lawyers from a number of countries who are actively involved in the struggle against impunity for violations of trade union rights in Colombia.

Introducing the first themed panel, Colombian lawyers Eduardo Carreño, President of the CAJAR lawyers’ collective (which hosts the Trade Union Rights Unit), and Miguel Puerto from ICTUR (and also a member of the CAJAR collective) spoke passionately about trade union rights, the rule of law, and the crisis of impunity in their country. British lawyers from leading law firms and lawyers organisations spoke about their experiences in supporting their professional colleagues in Colombia, while Mary Joyce Carlson, a lawyer from the US union SEIU, spoke about her union’s work to lobby the US government over the proposed US-Colombia Free Trade Agreement, and the legal cases brought against multinationals by US lawyers from the International Labor Rights Fund. Mary further emphasised that she was attending the conference in order to learn more about the strategies and projects being developed and pursued by European colleagues, and to hear the presentations by Colombian legal colleagues. Amnesty International’s specialist trade union and Latin America staff also reported on the findings of the in-depth report on impunity and trade unions published earlier this year by Amnesty. Sara Chandler representing a London branch of the Law Society spoke about ongoing work to raise awareness among lawyers through their bar associations. Smita Shah of Garden Court Chambers spoke about the need for British lawyers to examine the possibilities of using international law and to asses compliance with the British export credit guarantees in relation to the export of military aid.

Speaking from the floor, Gary Fabian of the British train drivers’ union ASLEF recalled how he had begun his work in the trade union world with a view that lawyers were unnecessary and that mobilisation of workers by trade unions was the key to all struggles of the labour movement. In later years, Gary explained, the use of the law to repress British trade unions during the Thatcher years, and support shown to the unions by lawyers had changed that view dramatically, and he thought that lawyers could make a tremendous contribution to the struggle for Colombian trade unionists.

Technical problems prevented the conference from contacting Colombian trade unionists, who had been scheduled to join the debate by video-link from Bogotá, but the second themed panel brought together a strong international trade union panel. Trade unionists from several European countries who joined a discussion with Janek Kuczkiewicz, Director of Human and Trade Union Rights with the International Trade Union Confederation, said that on the whole ITUC would support the findings of Amnesty’s paper and of the presentations delivered during the morning of the conference. Amnesty’s report, he added, would be very useful for trade unions as a source of further evidence for their argument about the correlation between violations and core trade union work such as bargaining and strikes. Lieven Vanhoutte of the Belgian FGTB described some of the practical problems that arose during their project to fund and establish a space for political discussion and workers’ education, and Juan Klett of the Spanish NGO Paz y Solidaridad (also representing the Spanish union CCOO) said that mobilising to protect individuals in Colombia was difficult for a European organisation, mostly due to the need for an urgent response in such cases, and said that in response to this experience Spanish solidarity work on Colombia was now mostly directed towards strengthening civil society. Owen Tudor, Head of the British TUC International Department talked about work through the Ethical Trading Initiative to improve labour rights in the flower sector and also of a need to coordinate more and better international solidarity. Direct union to union connections would, he argued, help this process.

The third and final panel discussion for the day called on the experiences of leading NGOs working on Colombian trade union rights. A representative of the British campaign group Justice for Colombia spoke about the delegations they send to Colombia and their work to lobby to the British government on the question of the supply of military aid to Colombia. Simon McRae from War on Want focussed on how certain multinational companies have benefited from the displacement of communities and the killing of trade unionists. He emphasised that the companies had not initiated these actions, but argued that awareness raising work was needed for companies to understand how they had benefited from the situation. Shane Enright, Trade Union Coordinator for Amnesty International UK, gave the final presentation of the day, assuring all present of Amnesty’s continuing commitment to investigating the situation in Colombia and drawing attention to a consultation paper seeking input around engagement with trade unions.

Speaking from the floor Luis Norberto Serna, former leader of the metalworkers’ union SINTRASIDELPA gave a moving and impassioned account of his own experiences of oppression, torture and exile. Other Colombian participants thanked the conference organisers, urged everyone present to continue their support, and spoke of their belief that a better future lay ahead for their country.

The conclusions of the event focussed in particular upon the importance of the creation of a safe political space in which Colombian trade unionists could work in. In his summoning-up, Steve Gibbons, a lawyer with the Ergon labour consultancy and a member of the ICTUR management committee, suggested that the project described by the Belgian FTGB had created a place in which Colombian trade unionists could dream: to set out visions and talk about the long term plans for the labour movement.

ICTUR and Amnesty provided simultaneous interpretation into English and Spanish.