Colombia is the deadliest country for trade unionists: ITUC report

PBI accompanies a National Strike mobilization on April 28, 2021. In October, Colombia’s trade union centres reported that at least 32 acts of violence had been perpetrated against trade union leaders during the strike.

The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) reports that Colombia continues to be “the deadliest country for workers and unionists.” Twenty-two labour movement activists were killed between April 2020 and March 2021.

The ITUC Global Rights Index 2021 report states: “Most of these crimes remained unresolved, as the government failed to allocate the necessary means for the timely investigation and prosecution of the cases.”

In another report made possible with funding from Union to Union, an initiative of the Swedish trade unions LO, TCO and Saco, Equal Times notes: “The Human Rights Information System of the National Trade Union School (ENS) recorded 15,430 violations of trade unionists’ rights to life, freedom and integrity in Colombia between 1 January 1971 and 29 September 2021. Around a fifth of the cases reported were murders: 3,288 trade unionists have been assassinated over the last five decades in Colombia.”

That report adds: “According to the ENS [Escuela Nacional Sindical/National Trade Union School], around 90 per cent of the violations targeting labour activism were directed at CUT Colombia (the Central Union of Workers) and its affiliates. The union centre presented a report covering around 3,000 murders of its members.”

Violations of fundamental rights have also been committed against various unions, including those of health workers (Anthoc), university teachers (Sintraunicol), oil workers (USO), teachers (Fecode) and public employees (Sintraofan).

The report also highlights: “One of the departments where the intimidation has worsened as a result of the recent protests is Valle del Cauca, one of the epicentres of the national strike and one of the regions where the police crackdown was the most brutal.”

On July 17 of this year, the Colombian National Police used a Canadian-made INKAS armoured vehicle to detain delegations travelling to Cali, Valle del Cauca for a National People’s Assembly for the ongoing national strike and social protests.

The Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project has been accompanying defenders and organizations throughout the national strike that began on April 28.

That includes Berenice Celeita, president of the Association for Social Research and Action (NOMADESC). She has been accompanied by PBI-Colombia since 1999.

In 2004, Celeita was targeted by state agents in an assassination plot known as Operation Dragon because of her opposition to the privatization of Emcali, a state-owned utility that provides water, telecommunications, and electricity services in Cali.

Photo: In July 2021, a Canadian-made armoured vehicle was deployed by the Colombian National Police against a national strike mobilization.

For statements from the labour movement in Canada in solidarity with the national strike, please click on these links: Canadian Labour Congress (CLC), Unifor, Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), United Steelworkers (USW), Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE),  Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW), Union of Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), British Colombia General Employees Union (BCGEU) and Service Employees International Union (SEIU).