Interim Report - Report No 27, 1958

Case No 136 (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) - Complaint date: 29-DEC-55 - Closed

1. 381. The Committee, at its 16th Session (Geneva, February 1957), had before it a series of communications from various trade union organisations concerning alleged infringements of trade union rights in Cyprus. The Committee formulated its conclusions on the majority of the allegations, with an interim report on certain of the allegations, in its 25th Report, which was approved by the Governing Body at its 134th Session (Geneva, March 1957).
2. 382. The Committee, at its 17th Session (Geneva, May 1957), resumed its examination of the allegations on which it had presented an interim report at its preceding session, and formulated its conclusions and recommendations on these outstanding allegations to the Governing Body in its 26th Report, which was approved by the Governing Body at its 135th Session (Geneva, May-June 1957).
3. 383. In particular, the Governing Body approved the following recommendations made by the Committee in paragraph 156 (a) of its 26th Report
4. 156. In all the circumstances the Committee recommends the Governing Body:
   • (a) to note, with respect to the allegations relating to the arrest and detention without trial of trade union leaders and members, the Government's statement that all detention cases are now under review ; to draw the attention of the Government to its view that holding persons indefinitely in custody without trial on account of the difficulty of securing evidence according to normal legal procedure is a practice which involves inherent danger of abuse and is for this reason subject to criticism ; to draw the attention of the Government once again to the importance which it attaches to the right of all detained persons to receive a fair trial at the earliest possible moment, and to express the hope that the Government will bear this principle in mind and will inform the Governing Body in due course as to the legal or judicial proceedings which may be instituted in the case of those of the persons in question who may still be in custody after the conclusion of the current review of detention cases and as to the results of such proceedings;
5. 384. In a letter dated 12 June 1957 the Director-General drew the attention of the Government of the United Kingdom to the contents of the paragraph cited above, including the request to be good enough to furnish in due course the information desired by the Governing Body.
6. 385. On 28 June 1957 a further complaint relating to alleged infringements of trade union rights in Cyprus was addressed to the I.L.O by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions. By a communication dated 11 July 1957 the Director-General forwarded a copy of this complaint to the Government of the United Kingdom for its observations.
7. 386. In a letter addressed to the Director-General on 10 October 1957 the Government of the United Kingdom furnished information in accordance with the request made by the Governing Body when it adopted the 26th Report of the Committee, together with its observations on the complaint dated 28 June 1957 presented by the I.C.F.T.U.
8. 387. As the only matters remaining in this case for consideration by the Committee are the action taken by the Government pursuant to the recommendations already addressed to it and the matters raised in the new complaint from the I.C.F.T.U, the analysis below is confined to this complaint and to the Government's communication dated 10 October 1957.

A. A. The complainants' allegations

1. 388. In its communication dated 28 June 1957 the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions refers to the conclusions and recommendations contained in the 25th and 26th Reports of the Committee, and expresses its view that the decisions of the Governing Body to adopt these reports should be interpreted " not only as an indictment of arbitrary arrests and detention without trial of Cyprus trade unionists " but also as constituting " specific requests addressed to the Government of the United Kingdom to discontinue such arbitrary actions and to release those against whom legal or judicial proceedings have not been taken ".
2. 389. The I.C.F.T.U then states that, despite the recommendations addressed to it, the Government has continued to detain a great number of Cyprus trade unionists without trial, and that, according to information received from its affiliate, the Cyprus Workers' Confederation, while some members of Communist-dominated organisations have been released, "none of our (C.W.C) members or officials have been released ; on the contrary, more and more of our members are detained". The I.C.F.T.U alleges that, according to reports from this affiliated organisation, 300 trade union members and officials are detained in the Pyla and Kokkinotrimithia detention camps. The complainant furnishes the names, together with their trade union functions or membership, of 93 of the trade unionists alleged to be still detained.
3. 390. The complainant alleges further that Mr. Michael Pissas, General Secretary of the C.W.C, has been released from detention but banned from his country, so that he is unable to discharge his trade union functions.
4. 391. In conclusion, the I.C.F.T.U asks the Governing Body to state that the policy of the Government of the United Kingdom is contrary to the principles of trade union freedom and to request the Government to release the detained trade unionists against whom no legal or judicial proceedings have been instituted.
   • ANALYSIS OF THE REPLY
5. 392. In its reply dated 10 October 1957 the Government of the United Kingdom states that the Governing Body's views regarding the indefinite detention of persons without trial have been noted, and points out once again, as it did in an earlier letter, that such detention represents a departure from the customary standards of the administration of justice in British territories, but that it has " unfortunately been rendered necessary by the intimidation of the civil population by terrorists and the fact that the identity of witnesses could not be disclosed without placing their lives in danger ". The Government also repeats the statements made in past communications to the effect that the detentions of the persons in question are entirely unconnected with their legitimate trade union activities or their status as members or officials of trade unions, but have been occasioned because they are all persons associated with a terrorist organisation (E.O.K.A) and believed to have been implicated in acts of violence, including murder or attempted murder. The Government declares that, for the reasons given, the persons concerned cannot be brought to trial.
6. 393. The Government reaffirms that the cases of all persons under detention are being reviewed with a view to the release of all those whom the Governor is satisfied can now be set at liberty without serious prejudice to law and order. For this purpose, all detainees are being interviewed and the Governor is being advised in each case by the Advisory Committee which was set up under the Detention of Persons Laws at the beginning of the emergency to examine individual appeals against detention, and the chairman of which is a former judge. The Government states that, between June 1957 and 28 September 1957 285 persons had been released under the review procedure, in addition to 203 released under earlier arrangements, and that the review of the cases of all remaining detainees is continuing.
7. 394. The Government states further that the release of Mr. Pissas was effected at the request of the I.C.F.T.U and was conditional on his leaving Cyprus and staying away for the period of the present emergency, that he accepted this condition in a written undertaking and that the condition was imposed because of his implication in terrorist activities, as the Government indicated in an earlier communication dated 19 December 1956 which has already been examined by the Committee.

B. B. The Committee's conclusions

1. 395. Apart from the fact that the complainant specifically names, and gives the trade union functions or membership of, 93 of the 300 persons whom it alleges were in detention in Cyprus as recently as June 1957, the only new element which the present complaint adds to the matters previously examined and reported upon by the Committee in this case is the fact that Mr. Pissas, General Secretary of the Cyprus Workers' Confederation, has been released from detention but forced to stay away from Cyprus during the period of the present emergency. In its previous examination of this case the Committee took account of the allegation then made that Mr. Pissas was one of the trade unionists held in detention in Cyprus, the Government stating that he was implicated in terrorist activities and that E.O.K.A documents showed that he had acted as a courier for the terrorists. Now, it would seem that he has been freed, at the request of the complainants, after undertaking to absent himself from Cyprus during the emergency. The Committee has, however, already considered the case of another trade unionist for whom exile was the alternative to detention under the emergency regulations-that of Mr. Ziartides, General Secretary of the Pancyprian Federation of Labour. The Committee considers, therefore, that the complaint now presented by the I.C.F.T.U does not raise any factual issues which are not substantially similar in character to issues already examined by the Committee at its 16th and 17th Sessions.
2. 396. The complainant alleges that the Government has not given effect to the recommendations previously addressed to it by the Governing Body and that, as recently as June 1957, some 300 trade union members or officials, of whom 93 are named, were still held in detention without trial, although the Governing Body, by adopting paragraph 156 (a) of the 26th Report of the Committee, cited in paragraph 383 above, which embodied and somewhat amplified recommendations already made in its 25th Report, had drawn the attention of the Government to its views with respect to the holding of persons indefinitely in custody without trial and to the importance which the Governing Body has always attached to the right of all detained persons to receive a fair trial at the earliest possible moment
3. 397. But it is precisely the period subsequent to June 1957 and up to 28 September 1957 which is now covered by the information given by the Government in its latest reply. In that period-that is, since the approximate date on which the I.C.F.T.U alleges 300 trade union officials or members still to have been held in detention-the Government states that 285 persons were released under the review procedure, adding that the review of the cases of all the remaining detainees is continuing. The Government gives the further information that the Advisory Committee which reviews cases and advises the Governor thereon is under the chairmanship of a former judge.
4. 398. In these circumstances the Committee recommends the Governing Body to take note of the developments referred to in the preceding paragraph, but considers that no new elements of substance are raised in the complaint now before the Committee, or in the Government's reply, to cause it either to amplify or to modify the recommendations contained in its 26th Report.

399. The Committee therefore recommends the Governing Body to note the Government's statement that the review of all detention cases by an Advisory Committee presided over by a former judge is still continuing and that 285 persons were released under the review procedure in the period June-September 1957 ; to draw the attention of the Government once again to its view that holding persons indefinitely in custody without trial on account of the difficulty of securing evidence according to normal legal procedure is a practice which involves inherent danger of abuse and is for this reason subject to criticism ; to draw the attention of the Government once again to the importance which it attaches to the right of all detained persons to receive a fair trial at the earliest possible moment, and to express the hope that the Government will bear this principle in mind and will inform the Governing Body as quickly as possible as to the legal or judicial proceedings which may be instituted in the case of those of the persons in question who may still be in custody after the conclusion of the current review of detention cases, and as to the results of such proceedings.