Home to Half of World’s Union Murders, Colombia Excluded from ILO’s Sanctions List

[Judi Lynn]

14 June 2010
Home to Half of World’s Union Murders, Colombia Excluded from ILO’s Sanctions List

In 2009, according to the annual survey of the International Trade Union Confederation’s (ITUC), 101 murders of trade unionists occurred worldwide. Colombia again was the leader among countries with 48. Despite the gruesome repeat, the ILO’s Committee on the Application of Standards, on 5 June, excluded Colombia from the list of 25 countries sanctioned for trade union rights abuses.

The ICEM expresses disbelief over the omitting of Colombia, and itself sanctions employers’ representatives at the ILO for manipulating the exclusion. The ICEM also calls attention to the fact that President Álvaro Uribe Vélez immediately used Colombia’s elimination to promote free trade agreements with North American nations and the European Union.

It was the first time in 20 years that Colombia, far and away the most dangerous country in the world for trade unionists to carry out their activities, was left off the list. The ITUC reports that over the last decade, 63% of all trade union murders occurred in Colombia. It counts at least 10,887 acts of violence against unionists, and over the past 24 years, 2,832 murders occurred.

“The ICEM is appalled at the political power play by employers’ representatives, both from Colombia and elsewhere, to exclude Colombia from the list of 25,” said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. “Not only do murders, telephone threats, physical assaults continue there on a regular basis, but despite government rhetoric, impunity for such crimes is nearly always certain.”

More:
http://www.icem.org/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/3848-Home-to-Half-of-World’s-Union-Murders-Colombia-Excluded-from-ILO’s-Sanctions-List