PBI-Colombia accompanies Nomadesc at meetings with Presidential advisor and SINTRAUNICOL, threatened trade unionists

Published by Brent Patterson on March 28, 2025March 28, 2025

On March 27, RTVC News posted: “The Presidential Advisor for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law, Lourdes Castro, met with threatened social leaders in Cali and throughout the department.”

“Meets with threatened trade unionists”

The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) documented: “Between 2023 and 2024, 11 trade unionists were assassinated, resulting in Colombia retaining its reputation as the deadliest country in the world for trade unionists.”

Providing specific context about this visit, the National Union of University Workers and Employees of Colombia (SINTRAUNICOL) posted on Instagram:

“Visit of the Presidential Advisor for Human Rights to SINTRAUNICOL

In the framework of the accompaniment to trade union organizations and human rights defenders in the Valle, the Presidential Advisor for Human Rights, Lourdes Castro, visited the headquarters of SINTRAUNICOL.

During the meeting, the Board of Directors of SINTRAUNICOL highlighted its commitment to the defense of the Universidad del Valle, public education and the protection of the university community at risk.

The Counselor emphasized the importance of recognizing union work as legitimate, urging the authorities to guarantee the protection of union leaders and to stop stigmatization. In addition, the need for justice in cases such as that of Jhonny Silva [a student at Universidad del Valle killed by members of the ESMAD police riot squad during a student demonstration in 2005] was addressed, recalling that historical memory is key in the struggle for human rights.

SINTRAUNICOL remains firm in the defense of life, truth and justice.”

Photo: Presidential advisor Lourdes Castro, SINTRAUNICOL president Edison Méndez, and NOMADESC president Berenice Celeita.

The Peace Brigades International accompanied Association for Social Research and Action (Nomadesc) also posted on Facebook:

“The visit for protection of the Presidential Counselor for Human Rights begins, in the accompaniment of trade union organizations and human rights defenders of the Valle.

Sintraunicol receives at its headquarters the counselor Lourdes Castro, the Board of Directors highlights the work they do from the union for the defense of the Universidad del Valle and public education. In the union’s work, they mandate the search for the truth, as well as the protection and safeguarding of the lives of workers, students and the university community that today is at risk.

The counselor emphasizes its commitment to the protection of human rights in a comprehensive manner, from the protection of life, to the present struggle for the social rights of the Colombian people in conditions of dignity. She calls on the authorities that the work of union leaders is legitimate and it is the responsibility of the national, departmental and local governments, the Attorney General’s Office and the State as a whole to recognize their work and put an end to the stigmatization of the defense of human rights. Adding the timely investigation of the facts that threaten their life and exercise.

Our director, Berenice Celeita, highlights the accumulation of impunity for different crimes committed against students, such as the case of Jhonny Silva. It is the victims who are the driving force in the exercise of defending the historical memory of human rights. It is a case that represents what happens in all public universities, a genocidal practice against university communities.”

Later Nomadesc posted:

“We ended the day with a visit to the workers of EMCALI Union of Labor Unions [USE]. Defending the public company is our ideology, our raison d’être, is the union’s statement to Councilwoman Lourdes Castro. 

The USE union expresses its commitment to the defense of labor rights, and requests protection for its organizational exercise, its right to representation and association, which today are also at risk.”

We continue to follow this.

Further reading: PBI-Colombia accompanies Nomadesc at meetings with state authorities in Bogota given threats faced by trade union leaders (March 14, 2025).