COLOMBIA:
ILO to Keep an Eye on
Labour Rights
By Gustavo Capdevila
GENEVA, (IPS) - Cases of
violence against trade
unionists and violations
of labour standards
committed in Colombia
were presented to an
International Labour
Organisation (ILO) panel
of legal experts, which
will instruct the
Colombian state to
modify its policies and
will hold the government
accountable, said labour
representatives from
that country.
In its report to the
ILO’s 97th International
Labour Conference, which
concluded its annual
session in Geneva
Friday, the panel of
experts -- the ILO
Committee on the
Application of Standards
-- expressed concern
over the rise in violent
acts against trade
unionists in Colombia in
the first half of the
year.
Luciano Sanín, director
of the Escuela Nacional
Sindical (National Trade
Union School) in
Medellín, Colombia’s
second-largest city,
told IPS that 26 trade
unionists had been
killed in that country
this year, as of May 30
-- a 70 percent increase
on the same period in
2007.
The Committee urged the
Colombian government of
Álvaro Uribe ‘’to take
further steps to
reinforce the available
protective measures and
to render more efficient
and expedient the
investigations of
murders of trade
unionists and the
identification of all of
its instigators."
The Committee, whose
mandate is to monitor
compliance of
international labour
standards in ILO member
states, told the
Colombian government
that such measures
should include "enhanced
investment of necessary
resources in order to
combat impunity,
including through the
nomination of additional
judges specifically
dedicated to resolving
cases of violence
against trade
unionists."
"All of these steps are
essential elements to
ensure that the trade
union movement might
finally develop and
flourish in a climate
free from violence,"
said the Committee in
its conclusions on the
case of Colombia.
Colombian Minister of
Social Protection Diego
Palacio said that in
2007, 34 million dollars
were earmarked to cover
the costs of special
protection for trade
unionists, journalists
and political leaders,
compared to just 1.7
million dollars in 2000.
Of those 34 million
dollars, around 11
million went to the
protection programme for
trade unionists, he
said.
"For us, the problem is
not that you have to go
around with five
bodyguards, in two
armoured vehicles
followed by three
motorcycles," said
Alfonso Velásquez, a
member of the executive
committee of Colombia’s
central trade union, the
Central Unitaria de
Trabajadores (CUT).
"The real problem is
that we labour leaders
need to be able to do
our job of organising
workers," he told IPS.
The Committee also said
the government must
guarantee that all
workers, including
public employees, can
form unions without
prior authorisation, and
are free to join them.
The question of the
freedom to organise is
one of the issues of
greatest concern to
labour leaders in
Colombia. "In the
western world, Colombia
is the political system
most contrary to labour
freedoms," said Sanín.
"And worldwide, it is
only outdone by the
military regime in
Burma."
The issue was discussed
in meetings with U.S.
legislators who visited
Colombia during the
debate on the free trade
agreement between the
U.S. and Colombia -- the
approval of which was
finally blocked by the
Democratic Party in the
U.S. Congress.
The lawmakers asked the
Colombian trade
unionists when they
believed the level of
respect for labour
rights in Colombia will
have recovered
sufficiently so as to
make the free trade
agreement viable.
"We told them that would
happen the day freedom
to organise in Colombia
was as well respected as
free enterprise," said
Sanín.
"There is a general
offensive around the
world against trade
union freedom and labour
rights," he said. "The
dream of the neoliberals
is to have labour
relations without labour
rights and unions."
But in Colombia, which
is in the grip of a
nearly five-decade civil
war, the global trend
against labour rights is
mixed up with violence
and a deep-rooted
culture of
anti-unionism, he said.
Conditions for labour in
Colombia are "terrible,"
said the expert, who
pointed out that only
one-quarter of all
workers -- less than
five million out of 19
million -- enjoy any
degree of labour
protection or social
benefits, with formal
work contracts.
And only five of every
100 workers belong to a
trade union, down from
15 percent just a few
years ago, he added.
The absolute number of
trade union members has
remained stable for 20
years, at around
800,000. But in
proportion to the sharp
growth of the
economically active
population, the
percentage has dropped
to one-third, he
explained.
Another aspect is the
right to strike. Of 19
million workers, just
200,000 -- around one
percent -- can legally
exercise that right,
said Sanín.
"When we pointed this
out at the ILO
conference, it was
considered appalling,"
he said. Colombia is
nowhere near respecting
international labour
standards, he added.
With respect to the
violence, the figures
from the Escuela
Nacional Sindical
indicate that 2,669
trade unionists were
killed between 1986 and
April 2008 -- an average
of one every three days.
And in 97 percent of the
murders, no one has been
brought to justice.
Sanín acknowledged that
in the last five years
there has been "a
significant fall" in the
number of murders of
labour activists. But,
he said, an increase has
been seen over the last
year.
Nineteen of the latest
incidents of violence
and intimidation
involved threats against
trade unionists from the
"Black Eagles", which
Sanín identified as
paramilitary groups.
The far-right
paramilitary militias
negotiated a partial
demobilisation with the
rightwing Uribe
administration, but
there are abundant
reports that they have
reorganised and remain
active, under names like
the Black Eagles.
Several murders have
been committed since
Mar. 6, when nationwide
protest marches were
held in homage to the
victims of paramilitary
violence, said Sanín.
There was also an
increase in killings
when the Colombian
government experienced
the frustration of the
free trade agreement
being blocked in the
U.S. Congress, he said.
Sanín interpreted that
as vengeance against the
trade union movement
because of its
mobilisation against
violations of labour
rights and its protests
against the continued
violent activities of
paramilitary groups
"This explains the rise
in violence that is
punishing the social
movement that has put up
the most resistance to
this regime," he said.
With regard to the
treatment of the case of
Colombia in the ILO,
Velásquez said that
since 1996, when labour
conditions in the
country began to be
discussed in the
international body,
"very important
opportunities have been
wasted."
And the International
Labour Conference
session that ended
Friday "was no
exception," he said.
Sanín, on the other
hand, said that in the
history of ILO debates
on conditions in
Colombia, this year’s
was the most in-depth,
with a three-hour
discussion and a 40-page
document in which all of
the arguments and
observations set forth
by the government, trade
unions and employers
were compiled.
By comparison, the case
of Iraq, "which in my
view is even worse than
that of Colombia," was
only debated for 40
minutes by the Committee
on the Application of
Standards, and was
summed up in just seven
pages, even though there
is an invading army in
that country attacking
the trade union
movement, he said.
"Our Iraqi colleagues
reported that the U.S.
army bursts into the
trade union offices and
takes away their
computers, and also that
it blocks collective
bargaining in the oil
industry, no less," he
said.
As of Friday, the
situation of Colombia is
once again under
periodic review by the
ILO standards system,
said Sanín. That means
the ILO’s normal
mechanisms will begin to
pressure Bogotá to carry
out modifications in
terms of legislation and
respect of labour
practices.
The ILO "is not going to
tell President Uribe
that he is a
paramilitary, of which I
have no doubt," said
Sanín. "But it will tell
him: you have to change
these laws. That is what
we have achieved now." |
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