Interim Report - Report No 367, March 2013

Case No 2923 (El Salvador) - Complaint date: 13-JAN-12 - Active

Allegations: Murder of a trade union leader

1. 698. The complaint is contained in a joint communication of the Union of Municipal Workers of Santa Ana (SITRAMSA) and the Autonomous Confederation of Salvadorian Workers (CATS) dated 13 January 2012.
2. 699. The Government sent its observations in a communication dated 27 February 2013.
3. 700. El Salvador has ratified the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), and the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98).

A. The complainants’ allegations

1. 701. In their communication of 13 January 2012, the SITRAMSA and the CATS explained that SITRAMSA had been established on 10 July 2009, with legal personality under a Ministry of Labour resolution of 23 September 2009, with Mr Victoriano Abel Vega as the union’s Secretary-General since them.
2. 702. The complainant organizations allege that on 15 January 2010, in the city of Santa Ana, the union leader Victoriano Abel Vega arrived at the City Sanitation Services, where he was posted, to present a letter requesting permission to attend a meeting of the CATS in San Salvador. When he left the office, however, around five persons were waiting to murder him. He was murdered at 5.15 p.m., at the junction of 9a Calle Oriente and 11a Avenida Sur, along Anita Alvarado Park, in the city of Santa Ana. The perpetrators subsequently drove away in a vehicle which was waiting for them nearby. The forensic medical examiners determined that Mr Victoriano Abel Vega died from multiple gunshot wounds in different parts of his body.
3. 703. The complainant organizations emphasize that Mr Victoriano Abel Vega was a human rights and union rights advocate, defending employment and the resources of the Santa Ana municipal authorities in the previous municipal council. The municipal administration during the 2000–09 period was marked by serious labour rights violations, including the withholding of workers’ wages, which were not paid to the corresponding institutions, such as the banks where the workers had their accounts, or to pension and social security funds, causing delays in the payment of wages to all the workers of the commune. Mr Victoriano Abel Vega led a tireless struggle to defend the rights of all the workers, most notably through complaints lodged with the Office of the Public Prosecutor of the Republic against the administration of the council, presided over Mr Orlando Mena. Mr Victoriano Abel Vega also led protests, marches, strikes, and even an indefinite stoppage of work in the municipality, for which he had received death threats. In addition, he had started to organize municipal workers in the western zone, prior to the entry into force of International Labour Organization Conventions Nos 87, 98, 135 and 151, ratified by the Legislative Assembly on 24 August 2006, and which entered into force following a reform of the Constitution of the Republic of El Salvador in June 2009.
4. 704. In the light of the foregoing, on 4 November 2009, Mr Victoriano Abel Vega’s efforts were rejected by the municipal authorities of San Sebastián Salitrillo, in the department of Santa Ana. There was also a climate of harassment of workers who wished to be organized in the union, and a policy of persecution and discrimination against the trade union, through the dismissal of those who called for the establishment of a union in the municipality. In the light of this situation, a request for an unscheduled inspection was made to the Ministry of Labour so that the alleged anomalies could be verified and, if confirmed, brought to an end, although the Ministry of Labour did not carry out such inspection.
5. 705. In this context, and in the light of the complaint made on 16 January 2010 by SITRAMSA (together with other municipal workers’ unions and the Autonomous Confederation of Salvadorian Workers, thereby offering significant support for the municipal workers of San Sebastián Salitrillo, to defend and support their union rights), union leader Mr Victoriano Abel Vega, who consistently called for the municipal and central authorities to respond to the needs of workers, and for respect for the ILO Conventions ratified by El Salvador, was the victim of premeditated murder.
6. 706. Lastly, the complainant organizations note that the State of El Salvador has not undertaken any meaningful action to prosecute and punish the guilty parties who were complicit in such a heinous act against life and freedom of association.

B. The Government’s reply

1. 707. In its communication dated 27 February 2013, the Government states that criminal proceedings have been initiated in relation to the murder of SITRAMSA’s Secretary General, Mr Victoriano Abel Vega. The adds that the General Prosecutor of the Republic has been consulted on the state of the proceedings; however, the case being a criminal case – to which the parties have a limited access – the office of the Prosecutor of Santa Ana has refused to disclose details on the ongoing investigations. When information will be received it will be transmitted to the Committee.

C. The Committee’s conclusions

1. 708. The Committee notes that in the present case the complainant organizations allege the murder, on 16 January 2010, in the city of Santa Ana, of Mr Victoriano Abel Vega (Secretary-General of the SITRAMSA). He died from multiple gunshot wounds after leaving the City Sanitation Services office, where he had gone to present a letter requesting permission to attend a union meeting of the CATS. The complainant organizations emphasize that, upon leaving the office, Mr Victoriano Abel Vega, who had already received death threats for his union activities, was killed by five persons who were waiting for him, and who drove away in a vehicle that was waiting for them. The Committee notes the information provided by the Government that criminal proceedings have been initiated in relation to the murder.
2. 709. The Committee deeply deplores the murder of union leader Mr Victoriano Abel Vega and notes with concern that, according to the complainant organizations, he had previously received death threats, and that his murder took place in a climate of anti-union persecution and harassment, which the organizations link to his history of union action (which included the lodging of complaints with the Office of the Public Prosecutor of the Republic against the municipal authorities) and his role in the establishment of a union in the municipal services of San Sebastian Salitrillo. The Committee notes that, according to the allegations, the State has not undertaken significant action to identify and punish the guilty parties. The Committee notes the information provided by the Government that the Prosecutor has not disclosed details on the ongoing investigations as the parties have a limited access to the case because of its criminal nature.
3. 710. In these circumstances, the Committee draws the Government’s attention to the fact that, “the right to life is a fundamental prerequisite for the exercise of the rights contained in Convention No. 87” (ratified by El Salvador) [see Digest of decisions and principles of the Freedom of Association Committee, 2006, para. 42]. The Committee further recalls that “the rights of workers’ and employers’ organizations can only be exercised in a climate that is free from violence, pressure or threats of any kind against the leaders and members of these organizations, and it is for governments to ensure that this principle is respected” [see Digest, op. cit., para. 44].
4. 711. The Committee wishes to draw attention to its fundamental principle by which “the killing, disappearance or serious injury of trade union leaders and trade unionists requires the institution of independent judicial inquiries in order to shed full light, at the earliest date, on the facts and the circumstances in which such actions occurred and in this way, to the extent possible, determine where responsibilities lie, punish the guilty parties and prevent the repetition of similar events” [see Digest, op. cit., para. 48]. The Committee wishes to emphasize that the judicial investigations must be carried out without delay in order to prevent the impunity, in practice, of the perpetrators.
5. 712. The Committee deeply deplores and condemns the murder of union leader Mr Victoriano Abel Vega and requests the Government to provide the information it is referring to in its observations in relation to the criminal proceedings initiated and to take all measures at its disposal to intensify investigations to clarify the facts, identify the guilty parties and impose severe punishment upon them, with a view to preventing such types of criminal offences.
6. 713. Furthermore, as the complainant organizations have linked the murder of the union leader to his union activities, and in particular to his advocacy for the establishment of a union in the municipal services of San Sebastián (allegedly impeded through dismissals of the union’s founding members and the silence of the labour administration concerning the trade union complaints), the Committee requests the Government to send its observations on the matter and to ensure that the workers in question are able to establish a trade union without restriction.
7. 714. Lastly, the Committee draws the Governing Body’s attention to the extremely serious and urgent nature of this case.

The Committee’s recommendations

1. 715. In the light of its foregoing interim conclusions, the Committee invites the Governing Body to approve the following recommendations:
   • (a) The Committee, deeply deploring and condemning the murder of union leader Mr Victoriano Abel Vega, requests the Government to provide information on the criminal proceedings initiated and to take all measures at its disposal to ensure that investigations are intensified to clarify the facts, identify the guilty parties and impose severe punishment upon them, with a view to preventing such types of criminal offences.
   • (b) Furthermore, as the complainant organizations have linked the murder of the union leader to his union activities, and in particular to his advocacy for the establishment of a union in the municipal services of San Sebastián (allegedly impeded by the dismissal of the union’s founding members and the silence of the labour administration concerning the trade union complaints), the Committee requests the Government to send its observations on the matter and to ensure that the workers in question are able to establish a trade union without restriction.
   • (c) Lastly, the Committee draws the Governing Body’s attention to the extremely serious and urgent nature of this case.