Definitive Report - Report No 27, 1958

Case No 165 (Argentina) - Complaint date: 26-APR-57 - Closed

A. A. The complainants' allegations

1. 60. In its communication dated 26 April 1957 the Trade Unions International of Leather, Shoe, Fur and Leather Products Workers (W.F.T.U) states that trade union leaders have been persecuted in Argentina, and that some - including Mr. Rubens Iscaro and other workers-have been imprisoned for a long time. In its subsequent communication, dated 14 June 1957, the complainant organisation submits the names of seven other workers who, it alleged, were under arrest in 1955 and 1956. According to this organisation, the Argentine Ministry of the Interior stated that 300 workers were under arrest.
   • ANALYSIS OF THE REPLY
2. 61. In its communications dated 25 July and 7 August 1957 the Argentine Government states that the complaint by this Trade Unions International refers to a matter on which the Committee had already taken a decision, namely regarding the situation of the persons detained by the Executive during the state of siege. The Government continues to the following effect : several of the persons mentioned in the communication of 14 June 1957 had already figured in complaints received in the former case ; the Governing Body, after taking note that the arrests had been ordered for security reasons against persons who had committed subversive activities or sabotage, expressed " its satisfaction at the measures taken by the Government with a view to restoring fully freedom of association." ; evidence of the development in this direction is provided by Resolution No. 333 (a copy of which is appended to the Government's reply), which orders convocation of an extraordinary general meeting of workers' occupational associations in order to approve the statutes of the General Confederation of Labour and to elect its officers on a regular basis.
3. 62. Furthermore, the Government states, the new complaint by the Trade Unions International has no longer any object, since it deals with arrests made in 1955 and 1955 during the state of siege ; this was abolished throughout the territory of the Republic by Decree No. 7298 of 27 June 1957, and all the persons detained by the Executive 372 in all-were released ; Mr. Rubens Iscaro was one of the persons now at liberty ; at present any persons still detained could only be those sentenced by a court of law to imprisonment for ordinary penal offences ; but such cases, the Government concludes, have of course nothing to do with the present allegations.

B. B. The Committee's conclusions

1. 63. The Trade Unions International of Leather, Shoe, Fur and Leather Products Workers states that trade union officials were detained in Argentina in 1955 and 1956 ; that these included Mr. Rubens Iscaro ; and that the Ministry of the Interior has recognised that some 300 workers were detained by the Executive. The Government, on the other hand, points out that the present complaint refers to facts already examined by the Committee on Freedom of Association in its 25th Report, namely the situation of the persons detained by the Executive during the state of siege. The Government recalls the conclusions adopted by the Governing Body in the said case, and states that the observations then presented apply also in the present instance. Furthermore, as the state of siege referred to in the complaint was raised throughout Argentine territory by Decree No. 7298 of 27 June 1957 the Government describes the present complaint as one which has no longer any object ; it states that the 372 persons detained by the Executive, including Mr. Rubens Iscaro, the person specifically mentioned by the complainant organisation, were released when the state of siege was raised on that date.

The Committee's recommendations

1. 64. In these circumstances, having regard to the fact that it examined in its 25th Report the position of the persons detained by the Executive during the state of siege in 1955 and 1956 and to the fact that this situation ceased with the raising of such state of siege and the release of all the persons who had been detained by the Executive, the Committee recommends the Governing Body to decide that it would be purposeless to examine the present complaint further.