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LABOUR: Colombian Gov’t Eludes ILO Condemnation

Gustavo Capdevila

GENEVA, Jun 9 2004 (IPS) - The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has set aside a resolution critical of the Colombian government in regards to the continued criminal violence against labour leaders and to the obstacles blocking union activities.

The firm opposition of some Latin American governments, including Brazil, Mexico and Costa Rica, in addition to the reticence of the employers sector of the ILO triumvirate kept a condemnation of Colombia’s labour policies and government security out of an ILO formal declaration.

But the entire union sector and most of the European governments, especially the Nordic countries, represented by Denmark, spoke out against the assassinations of union leaders and violations of freedom of association and the right to strike in Colombia.

The ILO, whose annual international work conference is under way in Geneva through Jun. 17, is the only agency of the United Nations system governed by a tripartite system, with the participation of employers, workers and government officials of its member states.

The Committee on the Application of Standards, one of the conference’s main entities, took up the Colombian case Tuesday and the demands of the trade union group to include in the final declaration a paragraph critical of the violent actions against workers and the attacks on union freedoms.

The workers’ sector also demanded – unsuccessfully – that the ILO set up an investigative and mediation committee for the Colombian case.

But the resolution approved by the standards committee, released Wednesday, contains a call for the Colombian government to adopt measures to handle the reports of violence and, instead of presenting an oral report as it did this session, will require Bogotá to draft detailed memorandum in order to make a more thorough evaluation.

Colombian labour leader Julio Roberto Gómez Esguerra said there is an "anti-labour climate" fed by the government and by a segment of the employers "for whom the best union is the union that doesn’t exist."

The Denmark delegation said that the Northern European countries "remain concerned and deeply disappointed that the Colombian government – despite previous assurances – has still not taken the necessary measures to amend the legislation inconsistent with (ILO) Convention 87."

Also known as the Convention on Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise, it states that "Workers and employers, without distinction whatsoever, shall have the right to establish and, subject only to the rules of the organisation concerned, to join organisations of their own choosing without previous authorisation."

"We urge the Colombian government to address the problem without delay," stressed a Danish representative.

A spokesperson from Ireland, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, said the bloc "strongly condemns murders and kidnappings" and is concerned that Bogotá has not taken steps to apply Convention 87.

Unionist Luc Cortebeeck, of the Confederation of Christian Trade Unions of Belgium, said the anti-union climate reigning in Colombia extends well beyond the situation of physical violence.

The Colombian government considers it an advance in the country’s labour situation that the number of unionists murdered in 2003 was 108, while another year the total had reached 182.

Gómez Esguerra told the standards committee that it would be perverse to interpret the 2003 figure as a sign of progress.

The Denmark delegation said in a statement, that considering the information given and the views expressed by the Colombia’s deputy labour minister, "We find no credible evidence that the situation as it stands has improved substantially – on the contrary it continues to be very critical."

A spokeswoman for Washington noted that the number of union activist victims in Colombia has declined, but is nonetheless "horrifying".

The employers’ sector within the ILO said that adopting sanctions against Colombia would be counterproductive because it would endanger the cooperation programmes that the ILO is developing in that country to improve the conditions in which trade unions operate.

The Colombian government needs support to confront the problem, said an employers’ delegate, adding that weakening the government would benefit those who perpetrate the murders and rights violations.

Mexico defended the Colombian government’s policies, saying Bogotá maintains "a constructive attitude."

In regards to the discrepancies between Convention 87 and Colombian legislation, a Mexican representative argued that "the violence (of Colombia’s decades-old civil war) prevents the adoption of measures for the full enjoyment of workers’ rights."

There are no reasons to include a special paragraph on Colombia in the standards committee’s final declaration or to create an investigative commission, said the Mexican delegate, who backed a Brazilian initiative for that text to "reflect the effort of the Colombian government to eradicate violence."

The Colombian delegation to the commission said, "We agree, there has been impunity." Among the numerous reasons cited for the phenomenon, it mentioned that families of the victims of violence too often remain silent out of fear.

The Colombian delegation said the violence in that country, where four decades of civil war pit leftist guerrillas against right-wing paramilitaries and involves state security forces and drug trafficking rings, "is not selective; it’s indiscriminate."

The Bogotá representatives also said it is not true that the army supports the paramilitaries, as national and international human rights groups have argued.

But British trade unionist Simon Steyne told the committee that during a visit to a women’s prison in the Colombian capital in February, he found that "the overwhelming majority of detainees were members of trade unions or community based organisations."

In a space designed for 31, 84 women were held; food and medical care were deficient; the women and their children slept on mattresses on the floor, "but far worse was that, of the 84 prisoners, more than 50 had either not been tried or in many cases even charged," said Steyne.

Cortebeeck, who also belongs to the World Confederation of Labour, a union based in Brussels, said the unionists would keep up their call for an investigative commission for Colombia at the next sessions of the ILO administrative council.