AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL USA
PRESS RELEASE

July 3, 2007

(New York) -- A faulty paramilitary demobilization process, combined with thousands of cases of killings and threats, and a chronic lack of investigations and prosecutions, makes Colombia one of the most dangerous places in the world for trade unionists, according to a new report by Amnesty International released today.

Government forces and army-backed paramilitaries, despite their supposed demilitarization and disarmament, were responsible for 43 percent and 49 percent, respectively, of the human rights abuses against Colombian trade unionists in 2005 in cases where clear evidence of responsibility was evident. Guerrilla groups were responsible for just over two percent of the killings in 2005.

In 90 percent of the killings and enforced disappearances, those responsible have not been brought to justice.

According to Colombia's National Trade Union School (ENS) there have been 2,245 killings between January 1991 and December 2006. The ENS also documented 138 enforced disappearances and 3,400 threats against trade unionists during the period.

"Trade unionists are human rights defenders and crucial actors in the struggle for political, social and economic rights. Yet at an average of more than once per week, trade unionists in Colombia are being killed or 'disappeared'," said Paul Paz y Miño, Colombia country specialist for Amnesty International USA. "The rights of trade unions are guaranteed under the Colombian constitution, yet the government is not taking sufficient steps either to protect them or most importantly to tackle the impunity that allows these killings to continue at an alarming rate."

In its report, Killings, Arbitrary Detentions, and Death Threats -- The Reality of Trade Unionism in Colombia, Amnesty International documents a pattern of systematic attacks against trade unionists involved in labor disputes and in campaigns against privatization and in favor of workers' rights in some areas where mining, gas and oil industries operate.

The report also documents the following developments:

• Relatives of trade unionists are often targeted -- killed and threatened to intimidate the unionists themselves and undermine their work
• Women assuming activist roles as trade unionists and challenging traditional gender roles are targeted alongside men; from 2004 to December 2006, 44 women were killed
• The existence of coordinated operations at national and/or regional levels by security forces and paramilitaries to target trade unionists

The report includes cases of human rights abuses against trade unionists -- and their relatives -- working in Colombia's health, education, public services, agricultural, mining, oil, gas, energy and food sectors. Also included are details of the circumstances surrounding the deaths of union leaders, some of whom worked for well known multinational food companies.

For example, on Sept. 11, 2005, Luciano Enrique Romero Molina, a leader of the food union SINALTRAINAL, was found dead, with 40 stab wounds, in Valledupar in northeast Colombia, an area believed to be under the control of paramilitaries, despite the supposed process of demobilization started in December 2004.

Luciano Romero had been due to travel to Switzerland to attend a meeting in October 2005 as a witness to death threats against trade unionists representing workers in Nestlé plants in Colombia.

In 2002, as a leader of the Cesar branch of SINALTRAINAL, he had presented a series of demands for improved working conditions to the Nestlé-CICOLAC company. When these demands were not met, the trade union went on strike in July 2002; its leaders then began receiving death threats. In October of that year, Luciano Romero was fired from Nestle-CICOLAC. Threats from paramilitary groups forced him to flee his home and then the country, before returning to Colombia in April 2005.

Amnesty International is calling on companies who do business in Colombia to use their influence with the Colombian government to end and prevent human rights abuses against trade unionists.

"This report is a wake-up call for any multinational company operating in an environment in which human rights are systematically violated. Inaction is no longer an option," said Paz y Mino.

Successive Colombian governments have implemented policies to improve the safety of trade unionists, including a program that allocates armed escorts, bullet-proof vehicles and telephones to some threatened trade unionists.

"While such measures are welcome, attacks against trade unionists will continue unless effective measures are taken to end the impunity enjoyed by those killing and threatening them," said Paz y Mino.

The Amnesty International report also highlights the Tripartite Agreement signed by the Colombian government, Colombian business representatives and Colombia's trade union confederations in June 2006, under the auspices of the International Labor Organization (ILO).

The agreement provides for the establishment of a permanent presence of the ILO in Colombia to monitor how freedom of association rights are applied and progress in efforts to advance investigations into the killing of trade unionists.

To view the full report, please visit: http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAMR230012007

Contact: Suzanne Trimel, 212-633-4150

Send this page to a friend

Your Email:
Friend's Email:
Add a Message:
Security code: (case sensitive)