Effect given to the recommendations of the committee and the Governing Body - REPORT_NO372, June 2014

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

1. 20. The Committee last examined this case, which concerns murders and other acts of violence against trade union leaders and trade unionists, as well as anti-union dismissals, at its March 2012 meeting [see 363rd Report, March 2012, paras 22–32]. On that occasion, the Committee: (i) urged the Government to continue to take measures to combat impunity in consultation with workers’ and employers’ organizations; (ii) requested the Government to provide information on the legal status of the investigations via a list following the chronological order of the cases of violence; (iii) reiterated its previous recommendation regarding the establishment by the Government and the social partners of criteria for compiling the information to be transmitted to the investigating bodies on a tripartite basis, and requested the Government to keep it informed in that respect; (iv) again requested the complainant organizations to submit to the competent judicial authorities any information that might help advance the investigations; and (v) with regard to the allegations concerning the plan known as “Operation Dragon”, whose purpose was said to be the elimination of a number of union leaders, it invited the complainant organizations to submit comments in relation to the Government’s declarations in response to the ruling handed down by the Office of the Attorney-General shelving the case.
2. 21. The Government sent information in communications dated May, August and November 2012 and March and September 2013. In a communication dated May 2012, the Government indicates that significant progress has been made in the investigations into the murders and other acts of violence examined in the context of the complaint, highlighting the following results: 1,504 cases have been assigned; 1,001 are active; 618 are at the preliminary inquiry stage; 336 are in the pre-trial and investigation stage; and there have been 464 convictions with 594 persons convicted. The Government also submits a table containing detailed information about the 1,210 cases of murder and violence examined in the context of the complaint and includes a study conducted by the Office of the Public Prosecutor in 2011 on the rulings issued from 2000 to 2011 by the Colombian justice system in this respect. In a communication received on 30 September 2013 in the framework of Case No. 2761 currently before the Committee on Freedom of Association, the Government provides aggregate statistics on the investigations into all the cases of murder and other acts of violence against union leaders and trade unionists (including both the cases examined by the Committee in the context of the current case and those examined in the framework of Case No. 2761) with a cut-off date of June 2013, highlighting the following results: 1,542 cases have been assigned; 312 persons have been accused; 190 cases are at the trial stage; and 579 convictions have been handed down with 599 persons convicted (533 in respect of murder cases).
3. 22. In addition, the Government indicates that the Inter-institutional Commission for the Promotion and Protection of Workers’ Human Rights has been reactivated; the aim of this tripartite labour mechanism continues to be to discuss trade unions’ concerns and observations with respect to the handling of investigations into cases of anti-union violence. The Government provides information about the meetings held by the Commission on 31 August 2012 and 6 March 2013, in the presence of representatives of the Ministry of Labour, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of the Interior, the Office of the Public Prosecutor and the social partners. The Government indicates that the Commission in question has included on its agenda the unification of criteria for compiling the information to be transmitted to the investigating bodies on a tripartite basis with the aim of building consensus in that area. Furthermore, the Government indicates that the Office of the Public Prosecutor has issued Directive No. 001 of 4 October 2012 “establishing criteria for setting priorities among the various incidents and cases filed and introducing a new criminal investigation and management system in the Office of the Public Prosecutor”. As part of the implementation of this policy, the Analysis and Context Unit was established with the aim of coordinating the information currently available in the various units of the Office of the Public Prosecutor. The priority of this Unit, which consists of a team of five prosecutors, six analysts and four investigators, is the problem of violence committed against trade unionists.
4. 23. The Committee recalls that this case concerns more than 1,580 cases of murders of Colombian trade union leaders and trade unionists and acts of violence that occurred between the submission of the complaint in 1994 and June 2009. The Committee is compelled to reiterate strongly its indignation and its condemnation of these crimes and recalls that at some point, such as in the early 1990s, there were up to 250 murders a year. The Committee also wishes to recall that the main objective of the follow-up on this case, having already examined its substance on repeated occasions, is to put an end to impunity in each of the cases submitted to it.
5. 24. The Committee takes note of the information provided by the Government and, in particular, of the statistics relating to the progress made in, and results of, the investigations into murders and other acts of violence against trade union leaders and trade unionists examined in the framework of this case. While welcoming the significant progress made between 2010 and June 2013, particularly in the number of criminal convictions handed down and persons convicted, the Committee observes that these results are still far from allowing the Committee to conclude that more than 1,500 murders and acts of violence examined by the Committee in this case have been resolved and led to convictions. Further, the Committee also notes that according to the information contained in the study conducted by the Office of the Public Prosecutor on the rulings issued from 2000 to 2011 by the Colombian justice system in respect of crimes against trade unionists, “only in a very small percentage of cases were the persons convicted who incited, convinced, persuaded or ordered others to carry out the activity in question (7.3 per cent)”. The Committee therefore urges the Government, in consultation with the workers’ and employers’ organizations, to continue to take all necessary measures to combat impunity and to identify both the perpetrators and instigators of all the murders and acts of violence examined in this case. The Committee requests the Government to keep it informed with regard to the actions taken and the results obtained in this respect.
6. 25. The Committee notes with interest the reactivation of the Inter-institutional Commission for the Promotion and Protection of Workers’ Human Rights. The Committee considers that this tripartite forum can play a key role in facilitating the exchange of information necessary for the investigations to advance and to determine any adjustments necessary to achieve their completion. The Committee therefore requests the Government to keep it informed about the Commission’s meetings and the results of its work, particularly with respect to the establishment by the Government and the social partners of criteria for compiling the information to be transmitted to the investigating bodies on a tripartite basis. The Committee also takes note of the establishment of the Analysis and Context Unit, with the aim of coordinating the information currently available in the various units of the Office of the Public Prosecutor and welcomes the fact that the priority of this Unit is the problem of violence committed against trade unionists. The Committee expects that the work of this Unit will continue to be attributed with the necessary resources so that it can fulfil its task of considerably contributing to the identification and punishment of the perpetrators and instigators of all the murders and acts of violence examined in this case.