Are these not systematic crimes?

Abstract

REPORT□ COLOMBIA Are these not systematic crimes? The Colombian governmenthas designed a strategyof confusionwhich aims to show that theviolationof human rightsis notsystematic MIGUEL PUERTO isColombia and Latin America Coordinator for ICTUR The cover human Colombian its rights, responsibility and government, particularly forthe in violation because its rush of to of coveritsresponsibility fortheviolation of humanrights, and particularly because of the frontal and systematic attackagainstthe Colombian tradeunionmovement, has designed a strategy ofdefence andconfusion. Theaimisto showthat themurders ofnearly 3000trade unionistsinthelast24yearsinColombiado notcorrespondto a systematic violation ofhumanrights. Thegovernment istrying todemonstrate that itis notresponsible fortheseextrajudicial executions. Thismatter hasimportant implications forhuman rights in Colombiawhere thousandsof union leadersand membershave been killed,disappearedandthreatened overrecent decades. Thecritical situation ofColombian trade unionistshasbeentheobjectofgreat debatewithin the International LabourOrganisation ('ILO'). Within theILO processes,variousstrategies have been putintoeffect, suchas thementioning ofthecase ofColombiainso-calledspecialparagraphs within theILO Conference report on theapplication ofstandards, a DirectContact mission, a Special Representative on theGeneralDirector, a High Level Tripartite mission,a Special Cooperation Program, etc. At the 2006 ILO Conference the representatives of the Colombiantradeunions, together withthe Colombianemployers' representative andtheColombian Government, signed a document knownas theTripartite Agreement. The idea was thatthiswould promotepriority aspectsfortheexerciseof rights and freedoms forColombian tradeunions. The academic debate Duringthelasttwoyears,a publicdebateabout unionviolencehave been intensified, as countries negotiating free trade agreementswith Colombia,includingthe US, Canada and the European Union, clearly citedanti-union violence as an obstacletofinalising agreements. In November2009 an academic articlewas published,entitledIs Violenceagainst Union Members in ColombiaSystematic and Targeted ? Thearticle was written bytwoColombian academics Daniel Mejia and MariaJose Uribe,who questionedthe idea thatthe assassinations of Colombian tradeunionists fitted thischaracterisation .Theirpaperconcludedthat: '...on average,violence againstunionists in Colombiaisneither systematic nortargeted'. DanielMejiaandMaria JoseUribe,(Is Violence againstUnion Members in Colombia Systematic and Targeted ?'The complete document can be accessedviathehomepageof one oftheauthors: http://sites.google.com/ site/danielmejialondono/research In May 2010, in responseof thatstatement MeganPriceandDanielGuzmán, US researchers from theBenetechHumanRights Program, publisheda paperwhichexamines MejiaandUribe's article,entitled,Commentsto the article 'Is Violenceagainst UnionMembersin Colombia Systematic and Targeted?'. In theirresponse, Price and Guzmán presentin technicaland methodological detailthereasonstheyfindthe conclusionsin Mejia and Uribe'sstudyto be overstated. PriceandGuzmánbelievethat weaknesses in theinformation, in thechoice of the statistical model,and the interpretation of the modelused in Mejiaand Uribe'sstudy, all raise serious questions about the authors'strong causalconclusions: 'The poorquality ofthese models, the unknown underregistration inherent in the data,and thequestionable modeling decisions meanthatanyconclusions shouldbevery carefully qualified.Unfortunately, Mejiaand Uribe [Nov.2009]presents quitestrong conclusions ,whichwebelieve are unsupported by theanalyses'. (The complete document can be seenat http ://hrdag. org/ resources/publications .shtml) Price and Guzmán point out that if left unchecked those conclusionsalter the truth aboutviolenceagainstunionsand can mislead important social, economicand politicaldecisionsin Colombia.The authors believethatindepthexamination is needed to determine patternsand magnitudeof union homicidesin Colombia. The ILOCommitteeon the ApplicationofStandards InJune2010,during theInternational Conference ofILO in Geneva,in orderto avoida debatein theILO Standards Committee, representatives of thebusinesssectorin theEmployers Groupof the ILO successfully preventedthe case of Colombiafrom beinglisted.Listing thecase for discussion by the Applicationof Standards Committee wouldhaveindicated thatitwas one ofthemostseriouscasesofnon-compliance with theConventions. Asiswell known, each year the ILO debates the condition of compliance with ratified conventions in25countries , the list being defined by negotiation between the Workers Group andthe Employers Group, who inturn base their discussions on thereport oftheILO Commission of Experts onthe Application of Standards. INTERNATIONAL union rights Page 18Volume 17Issue 2201 0 REPORT□ COLOMBIA According totheColombian CUTandCTCfederations theEmployers Grouprefused to accept thelisting ofColombia, arguing that 'there would be no list'ifColombiawas put forward (Joint Statement by the CUT and CTC, 8 June2010). TheWorkers and Employers GroupsfinalagreementexcludedColombiafromthe listand in exchange theColombian government voluntarily acceptedan ILO HighLevelTripartite mission. Such tripartite missionsare used in extremely serious situations, recently inPhilippines, Turkey andGuatemala. With thesupport ofthemajority oftheWorkers GrouptheColombian CUT and CTC federations maintained that Colombiashouldhavebeenkept on thelistdue totheseriousviolations oflabour and tradeunion rights. In the Plenaryof the Standards Committee the Colombianunionists unmistakably pointedout thattheywould not approvethedecisionto removeColombiafrom the listand in exchangeaccept a High Level Tripartite Mission. Thissituation showsthatsolutions presentedby international organisations liketheILO havenotbeen sufficient to improve thesituation. The actualgovernmental strategy to demonstrate a misleading visionoftherealcruelty takingplacehasvariousobjectives , buttheir principal objectsarethattheUS Government and the European Unionshouldnotsee theseriousreality oftheanti-union situation inColombiaso that they can soon approve their Free Trade Agreements. Thisnewstrategy alsoservestopreventproper communication ofthehumanrights situation in Colombiato theinternational instruments on humanrights protection. Systematiccrimes and international law TheUnited Nations has stated that whena...