Observación (CEACR) - Adopción: 2024, Publicación: 113ª reunión CIT (2025)

Convenio sobre la libertad sindical y la protección del derecho de sindicación, 1948 (núm. 87) - Honduras (Ratificación : 1956)

The Committee notes the observations of the Honduran National Business Council (COHEP), received on 30 August 2024, and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), received on 17 September 2024, which relate to matters examined by the Committee in the present comment.

Trade union rights and civil liberties. In its previous comment, the Committee firmly urged, once again, the Government and all the competent authorities to: (i) take specific and rapid measures, including budgetary measures, to comply fully with the elements in the tripartite agreement of 2019 concerning action against anti-union violence, ensuring that the Committee on Anti-Union Violence holds its meetings and providing the necessary and vital impetus for it to succeed in the performance of its functions, ensuring the active involvement of all relevant authorities; (ii) institutionalize and make effective the participation of the representative trade unions in the National Council for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders; (iii) draw up a special investigation protocol to enable the Office of the Public Prosecutor to examine, systematically and effectively, any anti-union motives behind potential acts of violence affecting members of the trade union movement; (iv) ensure that the criminal courts give priority treatment to cases of anti-union violence; and (v) ensure adequate and prompt protection for all at-risk members of the trade union movement. The Committee also urged the Government to report on the progress made on each of these points, as well as the progress made in the investigations and prosecutions relating to the acts of violence that have affected members of the trade union movement.

The Committee recalls that, in its previous comment, it noted the status of the investigations and prosecutions relating to 14 cases of murder of members of the trade union movement. The Committee notes the following updated information provided by the Government: (i) a final judgment has been handed down in relation to the murder of Claudia Larissa Brizuela Rodríguez; (ii) nine cases of murder that took place between 2010 and 2020 are still under investigation (Sonia Landaverde Miranda, Alfredo Misael Ávila Cantillano, Evelio Posadas Velásquez, Juana Suyapa Posadas Bustillo, Glenda Maribel Sánchez García, Fredy Omar Rodríguez, Oscar Obdulio Turcios Fúnes, Jorge Alberto Acosta Barrientos and Roger Abraham Vallejo Soriano) and detailed information has been provided in relation to the progress made in each of the investigations; and (iii) the convictions handed down in relation to the murders of José Ángel Flores and Silmer Dionisio George were notified on 6 June 2023. The Government does not provide information on the status of the prosecutions relating to the murders of Alma Yaneth Díaz Ortega and Uva Erlinda Castellanos Vigil.

The Committee notes that the Government provides information on the status of the prosecutions relating to the murders of four other members of the trade union movement, indicating that: (i) arrest warrants have been issued in relation to the murders of Héctor Orlando Martínez Motiño and José Adán Mejía Rodríguez (murders that took place in 2015 and 2020, respectively); (ii) a conviction was handed down in relation to the murder in 2015 of Donatilo Jiménez Euceda; and (iii) the conviction in relation to the murder in 2020 of Félix Vásquez is final.

The Committee further notes the ITUC’s indication that it regrets the murders on 24 June 2023 of 13 persons, including 4 trade union leaders, Xiomara Cocas, Delmer García, Lesther Almendarez and José Rufino Ortíz. The Committee notes that the ITUC indicates the murders took place the week the management of the factory where the leaders worked announced the closure of the factory and that the trade union was in early talks about the closure, which would have left 2,700 workers unemployed. The Committee notes that the Government reports that an investigation is under way, that witness statements have been taken, that ten suspects have been identified and that the proceedings so far have established that the motive was related to a territorial dispute over the sale of drugs.

While noting the updated information provided by the Government on the status of the above-mentioned investigations and prosecutions, the Committee expresses its deepest concern at the numerous murders of members of the trade union movement and at the fact that several of the investigations and prosecutions relating to murders that took place more than a decade ago are still pending. Recalling once again that justice delayed is justice denied, the Committee reaffirms the fundamental importance of ensuring that the criminal courts give priority treatment to cases of anti-union violence and that the Government ensures adequate and prompt protection for all at-risk members of the trade union movement.

The Committee notes the Government’s indication that, while anti-union violence persists in the country and many challenges remain, social justice and dialogue are pillars of its administration and various actions have been taken to date to give effect to the tripartite agreement signed after the direct contacts mission in 2019. The Government emphasizes, in this regard, the revival of the tripartite Committee on Anti-Union Violence, which was established in 2019 and inactive from 2021 to 2023. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that: (i) on 15 March 2024, the tripartite Committee on Anti-Union Violence was revived with the attendance of representatives of the most representative workers’ and employers’ organizations in the country, as well as senior officials and representatives of the Presidential Secretariat, the Office of the Public Prosecutor, the National Commissioner for Human Rights and the Supreme Court of Justice; and (ii) the participants reiterated the importance of that Committee as a space for the coordination of efforts and exchange of information between the tripartite constituents and judicial officials, highlighting the importance of ensuring that it meets regularly and analysing the progress made in cases pending investigation and prosecution. The Committee notes that COHEP indicates that the Committee in question was renamed the “Committee against Union Violence” and also notes that both the Government and COHEP indicate that that Committee held working meetings in April and May 2024, during which they agreed on several points, such as: (i) establishing a work schedule with monthly meetings; (ii) keeping channels of communication open between officials; and (iii) requesting ILO support to review and implement an investigation protocol at the Office of the Public Prosecutor. The Government also indicates that: (i) it has prepared draft Standing Orders and has sent them to all the participants; and (ii) changes in government staff have made it difficult to appoint a new chair of the Committee, which, combined with the absence of comments from the workers’ representatives on the Standing Orders, have prevented the work from continuing.

The Committee notes that COHEP indicates that in August 2024 it requested the Government to revive the Committee against Union Violence, which was at a standstill. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that it hopes to be able to appoint a new representative to chair the Committee as soon as possible in order to regain momentum and continue the work of consolidating and reviewing cases of anti-union violence. The Committee further notes that, in addition to providing information on the Committee against Union Violence, the Government indicates that, in accordance with the tripartite agreement of 2019, it has signed a collaboration agreement with the three trade union confederations to increase their technical and operational capacity, including support to raise awareness of the rights to freedom of association and freedom to organize in the country, and that the State is expected to continue to support these confederations in 2024–25.

The Committee duly notes all the above-mentioned information and welcomes the actions taken to date under the tripartite agreement of 2019. The Committee welcomes, in particular, the revival of the Committee against Union Violence in early 2024 and the Government’s commitment to appointing a representative to chair the Committee so that it can regain momentum as soon as possible and continue its work. In view of the above, the Committee firmly expects that the Government will give the Committee against Union Violence the necessary and vital impetus for it to continue its activities as soon as possible and to fully carry out its objectives and functions.In this regard, the Committee urges the Government and all the competent authorities to:(i) continue to take specific and rapid measures, including budgetary measures, to comply fully with the elements in the tripartite agreement of 2019, concerning action against anti-union violence; (ii) institutionalize and make effective the participation of the representative trade unions in the National Council for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders; (iii) draw up a special investigation protocol to enable the Office of the Public Prosecutor to examine, systematically and effectively, any anti-union motives behind the acts of violence affecting members of the trade union movement; (iv) ensure that the criminal courts give priority treatment to cases of anti-union violence; and (v) ensure adequate and prompt protection for all at-risk members of the trade union movement. The Committee requests the Government to report in detail on all progress made with respect to each of these points, as well as the progress made in the investigations and prosecutions relating to the acts of violence that have affected members of the trade union movement and, in particular, relating to the above-mentioned cases.

Articles 2 et seq. of the Convention. Establishment, autonomy and activities of trade unions. The Committee recalls that it has been requesting the Government for many years to amend the following provisions of the Labour Code to bring them into conformity with the Convention:

• the exclusion from the rights and guarantees of the Convention of workers in agricultural and stock-raising enterprises which do not permanently employ more than ten workers (section 2(1));
• the prohibition of more than one trade union in a single enterprise (section 472);
• the requirement of at least 30 workers to establish a trade union (section 475);
• the requirement that the officers of a trade union must be of Honduran nationality (sections 510(a) and 541(a)), be engaged in the corresponding activity (sections 510(c) and 541(c)) and be able to read and write (sections 510(d) and 541(d));
• the prohibition on strikes called by federations and confederations (section 537);
• the requirement of a two-thirds majority of the votes of the total membership of the trade union organization in order to call a strike (sections 495 and 563);
• the authority of the competent minister to end disputes in oil industry services (section 555(2));
• government authorization or a six-month period of notice for any suspension of work in public services that do not depend directly or indirectly on the State (section 558);
• the referral to compulsory arbitration, without the possibility of calling a strike for as long as the arbitration award is in force (two years), of collective disputes in public services that are not essential in the strict sense of the term (sections 554(2) and (7), 820 and 826).

In its previous comment, the Committee encouraged the Government and all the parties concerned, with the technical support of the Office, to make every effort to revive the various technical bodies attached to the Technical Secretariat of the Economic and Social Council (CES) and to hold tripartite discussions to enable progress to be made in the implementation of the requested reforms. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that the CES Assembly, the highest governance body composed of the three workers’ confederations, COHEP, the Presidential Secretariat and the Secretariat of Labour and Social Security, agreed to revive the sectoral committees attached to the CES (technical bodies), specifically the Sectoral Committee on International Labour Standards (MENIT), the Sectoral Committee on Decent Employment (MSED) and the Law Commission. The Government indicates that these committees were formed with new representatives and that, in October 2023, MENIT, the MSED and the Law Commission resumed their work, addressing various issues related to the social and economic sector. The Government also indicates that, unlike MENIT and the MSED, the Committee for the Handling of Disputes referred to the ILO (MEPCOIT), which in 2019 had taken up, once again, the issue of reforms to the Labour Code, has not been able to resume its meetings. The Government estimates that the next meeting of the MEPCOIT will take place before the third quarter of 2024 and indicates that its agenda will include reforms to the Labour Code. The Committee welcomes the revival of two of the sectoral committees attached to the CES, while also deeply regretting that to date no measures have been taken to amend the above-mentioned provisions of the Labour Code to bring them into conformity with the Convention. The Committee strongly encourages the Government and all the parties concerned, with the technical support of the Office, to make every effort to ensure that the MEPCOIT resumes its activities on a regular basis and that tripartite discussions can be held to enable progress to be made in the implementation of the reforms that have been requested for many years. The Committee requests the Government to report on any developments in this regard, as well as the actions taken by the sectoral committees.

New Penal Code. In its previous comments, after noting some concerns regarding the impact of certain provisions of the Penal Code adopted in 2020 on the free exercise of trade union activities, the Committee requested the Government to provide information on the consultation process initiated in this respect. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that, although a discussion on reforms to the Penal Code is being held in the Standing Committee and the Constitutional Affairs Committee of the National Congress, no reform bill has been submitted to date. The Committee further notes COHEP’s indication that this issue has not been addressed in the meetings of the CES. The Committee once again requests the Government to provide information on the consultation process that it previously indicated had been initiated on the impact of certain provisions of the Penal Code of 2020 on the exercise of trade union activities.

Application of the Convention in practice. In its previous comment, the Committee recalled the essential role that the MEPCOIT could and must play in the resolution of labour disputes and urged the Government and all the parties concerned to make every effort to ensure that that Committee, which had been inactive since May 2021, resumed its activities as soon as possible. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that MEPCOIT plays a fundamental role in the early resolution of disputes through social dialogue and also notes that, according to COHEP, the Standing Orders of the MEPCOIT were approved in a tripartite manner by the CES Assembly on 17 May 2024. COHEP also indicates that it will begin chairing the CES from October 2024 and that its first action will be to revive all the technical bodies attached to the CES. Recalling once again the essential role that the MEPCOIT can and must play in the resolution of labour disputes, the Committee firmly expects that all the parties concerned will make efforts to ensure that the MEPCOIT resumes its activities on a regular basis so that it can play an active role in the resolution of labour disputes. The Committee requests the Government to report on this matter and reiterates that the Office is available to offer technical assistance in relation to this and all the issues raised in this comment.