Effect given to the recommendations of the committee and the Governing Body - Report No 328, June 2002

Case No 1961 (Cuba) - Complaint date: 26-MAR-98 - Closed

Effect given to the recommendations of the Committee and the Governing Body

1. 28. As part of the follow-up to the recommendations in this case, which was presented by the World Confederation of Labour (WCL), in a communication dated 8 December 2000 the WCL presented new specific allegations concerning detentions of journalists and members of the Single Council of Cuban Workers (CUTC), obstruction of the functioning and activities of the latter organization (holding of a congress), attacks on freedom of expression, intimidation and threats. The Government replied in general terms to these allegations in a communication dated 16 September 2001. At its November 2001 meeting, the Committee requested the Government to reply specifically to each of the allegations presented by the WCL [see 326th Report, paras. 73-74].
2. 29. The WCL indicates in its communication of 8 December 2000 that, in previous communications to the Committee on Freedom of Association, it has described the restrictions placed by the Government on freedom of association in Cuba, consisting of repeated acts of harassment, detention and blacklisting, and in particular the fact that there are no independent unions in Cuba and no freedom of association outside the official trade union established by the Government. Furthermore, it has repeatedly drawn attention to the systematic harassment and persecution of CUTC leaders, in their legitimate exercise of trade union activities.
3. 30. The WCL adds that the Single Council of Cuban Workers (CUTC) -- affiliated to the Latin American Central of Workers (CLAT) -- set the dates for a congress to be held on 20 and 21 October 2000 and began to make the relevant preparations during the first week of August 2000. The Department of State Security (DSE) renewed its harassment of CUTC members, with a view to preventing a second preparatory meeting, due to be held on 8 August, from taking place. Some leaders were detained, while some remained under house arrest and others were intercepted as they reached the meeting place and forced to go back to their homes under threat of arrest. Despite these acts of repression and interference in trade union activities, the CUTC confirmed that its congress would go ahead on 20 and 21 October. For example, in October, Mr. Sixto Rolando Calero (delegate for Camagüey Province) and his wife were detained and their documents confiscated, in a police operation ordered by the chief state security official in Esmeralda District.
4. 31. According to the WCL, the CUTC planned to organize a press conference at 11 a.m. on Friday, 13 October 2000, with a view to giving public notice of its intention to hold a congress. Before it took place, early in the morning of 12 October, state security agents arrested Mr. Pedro Pablo Alvarez Ramos, general secretary of the CUTC, as he was leaving home. He was later released in the evening of the same day. While he was under arrest, security agents attempted to coerce him into abandoning both the plans to hold a press conference on the following day, and the preparations for the congress. On the morning of 13 October, Mr. Pedro Pablo Alvarez Ramos and his colleagues travelled to the place where the press conference was due to be held at 11 a.m. (627 calle San Francisco, between 12 and 13 October, 10 de Octubre District, Havana Province), but found it completely surrounded by state security agents. Once again, Mr. Pedro Pablo Alvarez Ramos was arrested, detained by security agents and taken to Detention Centre No. 10 in the same district. The security forces also confiscated the trade union documents he was carrying with him, as well as a Cuban flag. On the same morning of 13 October, Ms. Gladys Linares Blanco, another leading CUTC official, and her husband, Mr. Humberto Mones Lafita, the owners of the house in which the press conference was due to take place, were arrested. Another of the CUTC leaders detained during this wave of repression was Mr. Carmelo Agustín Días Fernández, who was also a representative of the independent press intending to cover the conference. Numerous journalists from the independent press on their way to attend the press conference were stopped by security agents and forced to turn back. For instance, in Güines, Mr. Pedro Pablo Hernández Mijares and Mr. Víctor Rolando Arroyo (a well-known independent journalist from Pinar del Río) were detained as they travelled to the capital. During their detention, they were beaten and subsequently taken to the western province of Pinar del Río. Eventually, they were released and abandoned at the roadside between Guanajay and Artemisa.
5. 32. On Friday night, all of the CUTC leaders detained at Detention Centre No. 10, in Havana, were released, except for Mr. Pedro Pablo Alvarez Ramos. According to information received by the WCL, Mr. Pedro Pablo Alvarez Ramos was arrested under Order No. 0999-2000 for resisting arrest. However, Mr. Pedro Pablo Alvarez Ramos offered no resistance to the security forces on either of the occasions he was arrested, despite the fact that the arrests constituted clear violations of his most basic human rights. He was singled out simply because he was trying to organize, by peaceful means, a trade union congress, official notice of which had already been given to the authorities.
6. 33. In its communication of 14 September 2001, the Government, with regard to the alleged detention of various persons carrying out trade union activities referred to in the complaint, states that inquiries have shown that none of the persons mentioned in the document are in prison, and that all of them are living comfortably at home, undisturbed by the "security forces", as the WCL alleges. The persons concerned are described by the WCL as "leaders or unionists". Yet the Government points out that this supposed trade union organization has never proven its involvement in any union activity, in any recognized workplace. In the absence of a labour relations framework, it is impossible to describe the persons concerned as union representatives, given that they neither represent nor lead any body of workers in any of the recognized workplaces throughout the country. In Cuba, 98 per cent of the workforce are affiliated to central trade union organizations which group together 19 national sectoral unions. In response to the doubts cast by the WCL on the freedom of workers to establish trade unions of their own choosing, there are 19 national sectoral trade unions in Cuba, all freely established by the workers, which were neither imposed by law, nor introduced by force, pressure, repression or violence from the public authorities.
7. 34. This mass, widespread trade union activity takes place without any interference, repression or coercion. Thus, public freedoms are recognized, protected and exercised in accordance with the law.
8. 35. Article 14 of the Labour Code establishes "the right of workers to meet, discuss and freely express their views on all issues or matters affecting them".
9. 36. Responding to the allegations concerning freedom of expression, the Government states that the aforementioned trade union activity presents a wide range of channels for the exercise of freedom of expression by workers and their legitimate leaders in all trade union, business and administrative structures -- channels that are recognized and protected by the Constitution and the Labour Code.
10. 37. The ILO monitoring bodies have repeatedly stated the importance of assessing the practical application of ratified Conventions, therefore it would be inappropriate for the Committee to ignore the reality and practical application of trade union rights in Cuba, by focusing solely on cases derived from the unreliable testimony of individuals who have flouted the law and have no connection with genuine trade union activity in the country.
11. 38. In its communication of 20 February 2002, the Government further states that the persons named in the communication from the WCL have failed to prove their involvement in any trade union activity. In the absence of a labour relations framework, it is impossible to describe the persons concerned as union representatives, given that they neither represent nor lead any body of workers in any of the recognized workplaces throughout the country.
12. 39. The allegation presented by the WCL that trade unions in Cuba were founded by the Government is false; the WCL ignores the fact that, following a long process of unification dating back to the nineteenth century, the Central Organization of Cuban Workers was established in 1938 by the workers themselves, rather than being imposed by law. It was subsequently endorsed by all trade union congresses. There is no climate of violence, pressure or intimidation in Cuba, as is demonstrated by the workers’ participation in the aforementioned trade union activities, and by the rate of union membership, which stands at 98 per cent. The arrest of unionists or trade union leaders does not occur. In Cuba 98 per cent of the workforce are members of trade unions of their own choosing. The right to form or to join trade unions freely and without prior authorization is guaranteed by article 13 of the Labour Code. Allegations concerning acts of violence or the existence of blacklists such as those presented by the WCL are totally false; in fact, the persons referred to by the WCL are attempting to use the argument of their supposed union membership in order to flout the law. These individuals do not represent any body of workers, have not been elected in any workplace, and have failed to furnish proof, at any time during the examination of the case by the Committee on Freedom of Association, of their involvement in trade union activities.
13. 40. The Committee notes that, according to the Government, none of the persons referred to in the complaint are in prison. The Committee further notes that the Government contends that the persons concerned have failed to prove their involvement in any trade union activity, questions their status as "leaders or trade unionists", describes the CUTC as a "supposed" trade union organization and asserts that these persons neither represent nor lead any body of workers, and have failed to furnish proof of their involvement in trade union activities. In this regard, the Committee stresses that the CUTC is affiliated to CLAT and WCL, international trade union organizations, that over 400 signatures of Cuban workers are contained in the annexes to the membership application to the WCL (sent by the complainant), and that the annexes also include a communication sent by the CUTC in 1995 to the Register of Inscriptions of the Ministry of Justice, seeking "to be entered in the corresponding register of inscriptions" and subsequently mentioning four workplaces; the Committee also points out that the allegations by the WCL relate to events surrounding the organization of a national congress. The Committee notes that, according to the Government, the arrest of unionists or trade union leaders does not occur, and the allegations concerning acts of violence or the existence of blacklists are totally false. The Committee is bound to note nonetheless that the Government has not referred specifically to the detention or arrest of Mr. Sixto Rolando Calero and his wife, Mr. Pedro Pablo Alvarez Ramos (several times), Ms. Gladys Linares Blanco and Mr. Humberto Mones Lafito (her husband), Mr. Carmelo Agustín Díaz Fernández and Mr. Pedro Pablo Hernández Mijares, all of whom, according to the WCL, were trade union members or leaders, detained in the circumstances described by the complainant, or to that of the journalist, Mr. Víctor Rolando Arroyo. The Committee is therefore bound to regret deeply these detentions, as well as the ill-treatment suffered by the persons named by the WCL.
14. 41. Furthermore, the Committee is bound to note that the Government still refuses to recognize the CUTC, in spite of the fact that more than six years have elapsed since it requested official registration, and requests the Government to ensure that the CUTC can operate freely and that the authorities refrain from any interference such as restricting the organization’s fundamental rights. The Committee draws the Government’s attention to the fact that "the right of workers to establish organizations of their own choosing implies, in particular, the effective possibility of forming, in a climate of full security, organizations independent both of those which exist already and of any political party" and that "the detention of trade union leaders or members for reasons connected with their activities in defence of the interests of workers constitutes a serious interference with civil liberties in general and with trade union rights in particular" [see Digest of decisions and principles of the Freedom of Association Committee, 1996, paras. 273 and 71].
15. 42. Moreover, the Committee notes that the Government failed to reply explicitly to other specific acts allegedly committed by the authorities in order to prevent the national congress of the CUTC from taking place (harassment of CUTC members, threats of arrest, confiscation of documents, pressure to prevent the holding of a press conference, police intimidation through the deployment of state security agents around the site of the press conference). The Committee is therefore bound to deplore these threats and acts of intimidation which, together with the arrests and detentions referred to above, demonstrate that the exercise of trade union rights of organizations independent of the official union structure is extremely difficult, if not impossible. With regard to the alleged restrictions on the freedom of expression, the Committee notes that the Government again makes only general comments. The Committee stresses that "the right to express opinions without previous authorization through the press is one of the essential elements of the rights of occupational organizations" and that "the right of an employers’ or workers’ organization to express its opinion uncensored through the independent press should in no way differ from the right to express opinions in exclusively occupational or trade union journals" [see Digest, op. cit., paras. 153 and 156].
16. 43. Lastly, the Committee requests the Government to ensure that, in future, the CUTC can operate freely in a climate free from threats and intimidation, that the freedoms of opinion and expression of workers’ organizations independent of the official union structure are guaranteed, and that the confiscated documents are returned to the persons mentioned in the allegations. Given the insufficient information provided by the Government, the Committee requests it to provide full information on all the issues raised in this case.