Interim Report - Report No 101, 1968

Case No 514 (Colombia) - Complaint date: 03-APR-67 - Closed

1. 453. The complaints were presented by letters dated 3 April and 5 June 1967 from, respectively, the World Federation of Trade Unions and the Departmental Workers' Federation of Tolima (FEDETTOL). The W.F.T.U furnished further information in support of its complaint by a communication dated 16 May 1967. A communication was also received on 30 June 1967 in support of the complaint from six trade union federations which participated in the establishment of the Trade Union Confederation of Workers of Colombia (C.S.T.C.). By a letter dated 14 August 1967 the Government furnished its observations on the matters raised in the complaints.
2. 454. Colombia has ratified neither the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), nor the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98).

A. A. The complainants' allegations

1. 455. The allegations contained in the complaints relate firstly to the fact that trade union premises have been broken into and certain acts committed therein, including the destruction of files and libraries and the confiscation of legal documents. Secondly, the complainants allege that a certain number of trade union leaders have been arbitrarily arrested. Finally, it is claimed, legal personality has been denied to the C.S.T.C.
   • Allegations relating to the Violation of Trade Union Premises
2. 456. In its communication of 3 April 1967 the W.F.T.U claims that on 10 March 1967 extensive acts of repression were carried out against the workers' and people's movement on the pretext of alleged national subversion. It is alleged that the offices of the departmental trade union federations and of many primary trade union organisations were broken into, their files and libraries sacked and even some legal documents confiscated.
3. 457. As the Government has not presented its observations on these particular allegations, the Committee recommends the Governing Body to request the Government to be good enough to furnish its observations thereon.
   • Allegations relating to the Detention of Trade Union Leaders
4. 458. The W.F.T.U claims in its communication of 3 April 1967 that the Government has arrested and imprisoned, in a manner irregular from the legal point of view, numerous trade union leaders, including 34 who are named in the complaint. The complaint from FEDETTOL refers in a more general way to the imprisonment of about 500 leaders of petroleum and agricultural workers' unions on the sole ground of having made, on behalf of their members, such claims as it is the duty of every trade union to press.
5. 459. With regard to these allegations, the Government places the arrests in the context of the insurrectionary movement in Colombia and the various forms it has taken.
6. 460. The Government adds that all the arrests were carried out strictly in accordance with procedure, with all the usual formalities, and that great care was taken, both in the arrest and in the subsequent detention, to respect the dignity of the persons concerned.
7. 461. The Government goes on to indicate that some of the arrested persons were in custody for between 24 and 48 hours, others from three to eight days and that the longest detention lasted barely more than a month.
8. 462. The Committee wishes to recall that it has pointed out in previous cases, in which it was alleged that trade union officers or members had been preventively detained, that measures of preventive detention may involve a serious interference with the exercise of trade union rights which it would seem necessary to justify by the existence of a serious emergency and which would be open to criticism unless accompanied by adequate judicial safeguards applied within a reasonable period, and that it should be the policy of every government to take care to ensure the observance of human rights and especially the right of all detained persons to receive a fair trial at the earliest possible moment. Noting, however, that the Government has stated that all the detained persons have been released and that all the regular procedures were complied with, the Committee does not consider that it would serve any useful purpose to pursue the examination of this aspect of the case.
9. 463. Accordingly, the Committee recommends the Governing Body to decide that this aspect of the case does not call for further examination.
   • Allegations relating to the Denial of Legal Personality to the C.S.T.C.
10. 464. The complainants allege that, by Resolution No. 0475 of 14 March 1967, the Ministry of Labour denied legal personality to the C.S.T.C, contrary to the provisions of the national Constitution and of the Labour Code and in flagrant violation of the generally accepted principle whereby trade union organisations have the right to establish national Confederations.
11. 465. It is claimed that the request was first made in May 1964 at a constituent Congress of the Confederation and that the Government refused on that occasion to grant legal personality. Subsequently, following a Congress in July 1966, the request was repeated. The complainants claim that all the legal conditions for the recognition of legal personality had been fulfilled, including the communication to the Ministry of Labour of all the necessary documentation. They allege that the real reason for the denial of legal personality to the C.S.T.C is based on ideological considerations, particularly on information supplied by the Political Police.
12. 466. In Resolution No. 0596 of 10 April 1967, which confirmed the Resolution of 14 March 1967, the Government, it is alleged, put forward as a ground for its decision that the State cannot recognise an organisation the members of which commit acts against law and order, this being a reference, it is claimed, to the arrest of certain trade union leaders (referred to in paragraphs 458 to 461 above). The complainants claim that the request for the grant of legal personality was presented in July 1966 and that, according to the Labour Code, the Minister was under an obligation to reply within a period of 15 days. The Government's decision, the complainants allege, was not, however, given until 14 March 1967. According to the complainants, it was during this period between the date on which the Government should have replied to the application for recognition and the date of Resolution No. 0475 that the Government carried out the arrests which were referred to in the Resolution as a ground for not granting legal personality. It is contended that these circumstances are clear evidence of violation of trade union rights.
13. 467. In its communication the Government declares that legal personality was denied to the C.S.T.C, firstly, because the requirements of section 422 of the Labour Code were not fulfilled and the proposed Constitution infringed section 417 of the Code.
14. 468. In addition, the Government gives the other reasons set out in the Resolution for the decision not to grant legal personality to the C.S.T.C. According to information from the State security organisation, Resolution No. 0475 states, the aims of the C.S.T.C are contrary to the legally recognised trade union functions and are not in accordance with the prohibition embodied in section 379 (d) of the Labour Code, according to which trade unions of any type are prohibited from promoting or supporting campaigns or movements which tend to disregard, either collectively or through their members, legal precepts or action taken by the legitimate authorities. The Resolution goes on to state that certain members of the Executive Committee and of the member organisations of the C.S.T.C were in detention on suspicion of activities contrary to law and order.
15. 469. In view of the apparent contradiction between the complainants' assertion that all the legal requirements for recognition were complied with and the Government's observations according to which the requirements of sections 417 and 422 of the Labour Code were not fulfilled, the Committee considers that further information is required on this aspect of the case. In addition, the Committee has not sufficient information at its disposal concerning the additional grounds for the refusal of legal personality, referred to in paragraph 468 above.
16. 470. Accordingly, the Committee recommends the Governing Body to request the Government to be good enough to furnish more detailed information on the infringement of sections 417 and 422 of the Labour Code by the C.S.T.C and on the various activities which, according to Resolution No. 0475, constituted an additional justification for the refusal to grant legal personality to the C.S.T.C.

The Committee's recommendations

1. 471. In these circumstances, and with regard to the case as a whole, the Committee recommends the Governing Body:
   • (a) to decide, for the reasons stated in paragraph 462 above, that the allegations relating to the detention of trade union leaders do not call for further examination;
   • (b) to request the Government to be good enough to furnish its observations on the allegations relating to the violation of trade union premises;
   • (c) with regard to the allegations relating to the denial of legal personality to the C.S.T.C, to request the Government to be good enough to furnish more detailed information on the infringement of sections 417 and 422 of the Labour Code by the C.S.T.C and on the various activities which, according to Resolution No. 0475 of 14 March 1967, constituted an additional justification for the refusal to grant trade union personality to the C.S.T.C.;
   • (d) to take note of this interim report, it being understood that the Committee will submit a further report once it has received the observations and information requested in subparagraphs (b) and (c) above.