Definitive Report - Report No 127, 1972

Case No 664 (Colombia) - Complaint date: 07-APR-71 - Closed

1. 87. This case was examined by the Committee at its session in May 1971, when it submitted to the Governing Body an interim report which is contained in paragraphs 100 to 116 of its 124th Report, as adopted by the Governing Body at its 183rd Session (Geneva, May-June 1971).
2. 88. It will be recalled that the Committee had recommended the Governing Body to request the Government (paragraph 116 (b) of the 124th Report) to submit its observations on the allegations regarding the arrest, as a result of a general strike, of about one hundred workers and trade union leaders, including: Jaime Parra, a worker at the Boyaca power station; Guillermo Niño, President of the Boyaca Soft Drinks Company Union; Raúl Baquero, President of the Paz de Rio Steelworks branch at Samacá; Isabel Parada de Guevara, a labour leader; Raúl Tapia and Rafael H. Lara, trade union leaders of the cement workers at Boyaca; Victor Acosta, President of UTRAL of Barranquilla; Leopoldo Montes and Benjamin Rizo, union leaders from Barranquilla, " as well as many other militant trade unionists from Bogotá, Bucaramanga and Barrancabermeja, Cúcuta, Huila, Girardot, Arbeláez and Puerto Tajada " (paragraph 106 of the 124th Report). The Government was also requested to indicate the present situation of the above persons. The Government submitted its further observations on the allegations in a communication dated 18 August 1971.
3. 89. 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. 90. In its communication dated 18 August 1971, the Government states that those persons who were detained by the authorities during the state of emergency for taking part in illegal demonstrations have now been released, and that all sanctions have now been lifted. It adds that the strike of 8 March 1971 was illegal and not in conformity with the provisions of the Labour Code. The strike, states the Government, was called without following the procedure established by the Code and was not related to the discussion of any ordinary claim put to the employers, which would have opened the way to lawful strike action. The Government concludes by stating that relations between it and the UTC (Union of Colombian Workers) are excellent at present and that they are collaborating in the solution of labour problems.

B. B. The Committee's conclusions

1. 91. The Committee takes note of the Government's statement that the persons who were detained by the authorities during the state of emergency have now been released. The Committee wishes, in this connection, to draw the Government's attention to the principle that measures of preventive detention may involve a serious interference with trade unions which it would seem necessary to justify by the existence of a serious situation or emergency and which would be open to criticism unless accompanied by adequate judicial safeguards applied within a reasonable period. In the present case a state of emergency had been declared and the trade unionists concerned were detained during this period for having participated in strike action which the Government considered to be illegal. No details are supplied by the Government as to what judicial safeguards were available to these persons. In view of the fact, however, that they have been released, the Committee considers that no purpose would be served in pursuing its examination of this aspect of the case.

The Committee's recommendations

1. 92. In all the circumstances, and with regard to the case as a whole, the Committee recommends the Governing Body:
   • (a) to take note that the trade unionists, who were stated in the complaint to have been detained, have been released; and
   • (b) for the reasons stated in paragraph 91 above, to decide that this aspect of the case, and accordingly the case as a whole, do not call for further examination.