Colombia remains deadliest country for trade union leaders

AFL-CIO Solidarity Center reports more than 4,000 trade unions murdered since the mid-1980s.

Washington (27 June 2006) - Colombia remains the deadliest place on earth for trade unionists, says a new report by the AFL-CIO Solidarity Center.

Entitled Justice for All- The Struggle for Workers Rights in Colombia, the report provides extensive background and updated information but sums up the situation in a single chilling passage:

"Since the mid-1980s, approximately 4,000 trade unionists have been murdered in Colombia, more than 2,000 of them since 1991," the report says.

"More trade unionists are killed each year in Colombia than in the rest of the world combined. In October 2005, the ICFTU reported that Colombia was once again the 'deadliest country for trade unionists.'"

According to ENS (Escuela Nacional Sindical), 70 trade unionists were killed in 2005 while 260 received death threats, 56 were arbitrarily detained, seven survived attacks in which explosives or firearms were used, six were kidnapped, and three disappeared. Thirty-four trade unionists were murdered in 2004, mostly in connection with collective bargaining disputes or strikes.

International action needed

James Clancy, president of the 340,000-member National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE), says the international community must take action and one of the most obvious ways to exert pressure is through trade agreements.

Clancy noted that the United States is currently negotiating a free trade agreement with Colombia and that there are ongoing negotiations related to Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA), which would extend the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between Canada, the United States and Mexico to more than 30 other Central and South American countries.

"The ongoing FTAA negotiations include the Colombian government," Clancy says.

"This provides all governments, including the government of Canada, with a clear opening to address this barbaric crisis. Canada must take a stand to defend workers rights in these negotiations - indeed in all such talks. A clear message to the Colombian government is needed: stop the violence and respect human and labour rights."

Labour and fundamental rights

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, in a forward to the report, says labour and human rights are keys to a solution.

"Colombia doesn’t even comply with the most basic human rights," Sweeney argues.

"The first step is to end violence against working people. Colombia also needs to negotiate a just peace [with guerillas], create a democratic environment, build a fair economy, and establish the rule of law, with full support of the international community and every actor in Colombia’s political and economic life," Sweeney says.

"As part of this process, the Colombian government must bring its labor law into harmony with fundamental worker rights and genuinely commit to its enforcement. For Colombia to prosper in peace, Colombian workers must first gain their most basic human rights." NUPGE