Report in which the committee requests to be kept informed of development - Report No 302, March 1996

Case No 1860 (Dominican Republic) - Complaint date: 24-OCT-95 - Closed

Allegations: Death of workers and assault

1. 268. The complaint is contained in a communication of the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations (IUF) dated 24 October 1995, on behalf of its affiliated organization, the National Federation of Sugar, Agricultural and Allied Workers (FENAZUCAR). The Government replied in a communication dated 5 January 1996.
2. 269. The Dominican Republic has ratified the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize Convention, 1948 (No. 87), and the Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98).

A. The complainant's allegations

1. 270. The IUF alleges in its communication dated 24 October 1995 that on 18 September 1995 demonstrations were held in support of FENAZUCAR's demands in defence of 3,000 sugar workers who had been dismissed. During the demonstrations, Mr. Alexander García was killed by a shot fired at point-blank range by an armed patrol of the armed forces. In the same area of Ozama, the patrol attacked and kicked a young woman who suffered a miscarriage as a result of blows to her stomach.
2. 271. The complainant states that these violations of the human rights and fundamental trade union rights of unarmed civilians occurred during a demonstration organized by the trade union to present its demands and voice its concerns.
3. 272. The complainant further denounces the brutal treatment of 38 labourers from Haiti who were allegedly beaten and then thrown over a precipice by the armed forces and the rural polices in Montellanos. The labourers were not involved in any trial and were not formally charged with any illegal activities. Two of them died from the injuries they sustained and another 20 were seriously injured.

B. The Government's reply

1. 273. In its communication dated 5 January 1996 the Government first of all refutes the IUF's claim that 3,000 sugar workers were dismissed in September 1995. The truth of the matter is that, at the start of the low season in the sugar industry, the State Sugar Council (CEA) took action to suspend 12,000 workers for two months and duly asked the Secretary of State for Labour, within the three days allowed under the law and after notifying the trade unions representing the workers concerned of the decision, for the relevant authorization. It was the decision of the State Sugar Council (CEA) that sparked off the demonstration of the trade unions and workers.
2. 274. The Government adds that, on receipt of the request to suspend the contracts of 12,000 labourers, the Secretary of State for Labour arranged for mediation between the enterprise and the trade union organizations, which led to a meeting at the National Palace between the President of the Republic, Joaquín Balaguer, and the general secretaries of the trade union organizations involved in the dispute. The outcome of this meeting was an agreement under which the Secretary of State for Labour agreed to the suspension for a period of one month, with the loss of one month's salary, while the central Government, given the insolvency of the enterprise, undertook to pay the 12,000 workers one month's salary, which meant charging 40,000 million Dominican pesos (US$1 = 12.87 pesos) to the national budget.
3. 275. During the mediation and until the agreement was finally concluded, the sugar workers held protest movements and demonstrations. One of these demonstrations took place in the village of San Luis, Distrito Nacional, where the Ozama sugar mill is located near the San Isidro air base. The events in the village of San Luis, to which the IUF refers, involved workers, members of their families and virtually all the people living in the area. Barricades and obstacles were put up in the streets, tires were burnt, car windows were broken, etc. Given the situation, a contingent of the armed forces stationed in the near by base intervened in order to quell the disturbances. It was in the course of this operation that Mr. Alexander García was killed by Private Wagner Consuegra Rodríguez of the Dominican Armed Forces. It should be mentioned that the soldier received a stab wound in the right arm and that it was in response to this aggression that he fired the shot that cost Mr. Alexander García's life.
4. 276. The Government states that Private Consuegra Rodríguez was immediately arrested and is still in prison at the San Isidro air base. When the courts are convened in 1996, he will be tried by court-martial, in accordance with article 3 of the Code of Military Justice, which states that offenses committed by military personnel in the exercise of their functions, wherever they are committed, are within the competence of the military jurisdictions.
5. 277. Finally, regarding the alleged brutal treatment of 38 Haitian workers who are said to have been beaten and then thrown over a precipice by the armed forces and rural police in Montellanos, this is purely the fruit of the IUF's imagination, since no one in the Dominican Republic has heard of 38 Haitian workers being thrown off a precipice and of two of them dying as a result of their injuries and another 20 being seriously wounded. On this point, it would advisable for the IUF to consult FENAZUCAR.

C. The Committee's conclusions

1. 278. Regarding the alleged assassination of Mr. Alexander García during the demonstration in Ozama and the assault on a woman who suffered a miscarriage as a result of the blows she received, the Committee notes the Government's declarations and, specifically, that the soldier who shot Mr. Alexander García did so in response to a stab wound in the right arm and that he was immediately arrested, is currently in prison and will be tried by court-martial. The Committee also notes the tripartite negotiations and the steps taken by the Government to remedy the causes of the conflict in the sugar sector, as well as its reference to various acts of violence by the demonstrators.
2. 279. The Committee deeply regrets the death of Mr. Alexander García, shot by a soldier who had been previously attacked, and the acts of violence that took place during the demonstration in Ozama. The Committee draws the Government's attention to the principle that in the event of demonstrations "the intervention of the forces of law and order should be in due proportion to the danger to law and order that the authorities are attempting to control and the Government should take measures to ensure that the competent authorities receive adequate instructions so as to eliminate the danger entailed by the use of excessive violence when controlling demonstrations which might result in a disturbance of the peace". (See Digest of decisions and principles of the Freedom of Association Committee, 4th edition, 1996, para. 137.) The Committee accordingly requests that in future the forces of law do not respond disproportionately to the actions of demonstrators. The Committee requests the Government to inform it of the sentence handed down by the court-martial concerning the soldier who shot Mr. Alexander García. The Committee also requests that an inquiry be conducted into the alleged assault on a young woman during the demonstration of 18 September 1995, as a result of which she suffered a miscarriage, and that it be kept informed of its findings.
3. 280. Finally, regarding the alleged aggression on 38 Haitian workers in Montellanos, two of which are said to have died and 20 to have been seriously injured, and noting that the Government absolutely refutes these allegations and suggest that they are the fruit of the imagination of the complainant organization, the Committee is not in a position to pursue its examination of these allegations further until the complainant reasserts them and provides further details (names of the victims, lodging of any complaints, participation of the victims in demonstrations, exact date and place of the events, etc.).

The Committee's recommendations

1. 281. In the light of its foregoing conclusions, the Committee invites the Governing Body to approve the following recommendations:
   • (a) Deeply regretting the death during a demonstration of the worker Mr. Alexander García, shot by a soldier who had been previously attacked, the Committee requests that in future the forces of order will not respond disproportionately to the actions of demonstrators, and asks the Government to inform it of the sentence handed down by the court-martial concerning the soldier who shot Mr. Alexander García.
   • (b) Regretting that the Government did not reply to the allegations concerning the assault on a young woman during the demonstration of 18 September 1995, as a result of which she suffered a miscarriage, the Committee requests that an inquiry be conducted into this matter and that it be kept informed of its findings.
   • (c) Finally, regarding the alleged aggression on 38 Haitian workers in Montellanos, two of which are said to have died and 20 to have been seriously injured, and noting that the Government absolutely refutes the allegations, the Committee will not pursue its examination of these allegations until the complainant reasserts them and provides further details (names of the victims, lodging of any complaints, participation of the victims in demonstrations, exact date and place of the events, etc.).