Definitive Report - Report No 222, March 1983

Case No 1114 (Nicaragua) - Complaint date: 16-FEB-82 - Closed

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63. The complaint is contained in communications from the International Organisation of Employers (IOE), dated 16 February and 25 October 1982. The Government replied in communications dated 23 July and 17 November 1982.
64. Nicaragua has ratified the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 67) and the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining convention, 1949 (No. 98).

65. The IOE alleges that on 11 February 1982 Enrique Bolaños Gayer, acting chairman of the Supreme Council of Private Enterprise (COSEP), was prevented from boarding a flight to Panama en route for Caracas, where the following day he was to participate in a forum on economic co-operation between the Nicaraguan and Venezuelan sectors. According to the complainant his passport was confiscated and he was summoned to appear before the Minister of the Interior.
66. The IOE adds that the Sandinista Government has, on various occasions, prohibited employer leaders from travelling abroad, in some cases denying them a visa and in others in spite of their having one. The IOE indicates that Enrique Dreifus, Chairman of the COSEP, Ismael Reyes, Vice-Chairman of the COSEP, William Báez, Assistant Director of the INDE, Rosendo Diaz, Executive Secretary of the Union of Agricultural Producers, and Alejandro Burgos, Executive Director of the COSEP, have been subjected to travel bans on various occasions.

67. As regards the employer leader Mr. Bolaños, the Government states that the problem was caused by a misunderstanding on the part of the emigration authorities at the Augusto César Sandino Airport but that, once it had been cleared up, Mr. Bolaños was able to make his journey without any problem.
68. As regards the other employer leaders, the Government denies that their journeys abroad were prohibited and provides an extensive list with the dates on which, for various reasons, Messrs. Enrique Dreifus, Ismael Reyes, William Báez- and Alejandro Burgos travelled abroad.

69. The Committee notes that, according to the Government, the fact that the acting chairman of the COSEP, Mr. Bolaños Gayer, was prevented from boarding a flight to Panama en route for Caracas, where he was due to participate in a forum on economic co-operation, was caused by a misunderstanding on the part of the emigration authorities at the Augusto César Sandino Airport. The Committee also notes that, once the misunderstanding had been cleared up, Mr. Bolaños was able to make his Journey without any problem.
70. The Committee notes, moreover, that the Government denies the allegation that it has prohibited the employer leaders, Messrs. Dreifus, Reyes, Báez and Burgos, from making journeys and that it has forwarded an extensive list with the dates on which, for various reasons, these leaders have travelled abroad.
71. The Committee observes, however, that the Government has not sent specific information on the prohibition or prohibitions on leaving the country to which, according to the complainant organisation, Mr. Rosendo Diaz, Executive Secretary of the Union of Agricultural Producers, was subjected. In these circumstances, the Committee recalls that representatives of workers and employers should enjoy appropriate facilities for carrying out their functions, including the right to leave the country when their activities on behalf of the persons they represent so require.

72. In these circumstances, the Committee recommends the Governing Body to approve this report and in particular to recall to the Government that representatives of workers and employers should enjoy appropriate facilities for carrying out their functions, including the right to leave the country when their activities on behalf of the persons they represent so require.