You can read USLEAP's full report on impunity under Uribe here.  You can also check out other blog posts on violence against trade unions in Colombia here.  USLEAP's findings are also supported by the recent Annual Survey of Violations of Trade Union Rights by International Trade Union Confederation and you can read more about that report here.

Here is the full press release from USLEAP:

For Release at 12:01 am
September 27, 2007

New Analysis Reveals Murderers of Colombian Trade Unionists Rarely Brought to Justice

Chicago- A leading international labor rights organization reported today that a state of impunity for murderers of trade unionists continues unabated in Colombia, in spite of Colombian President Alvaro Uribe’s recent claims of improvement. Mr. Uribe is visiting the U.S. this week, advocating for approval of a pending free trade agreement with the U.S.

The analysis, based on information provided by the Colombian government, shows convictions in only three trade union murder cases in the first half of 2007. Of the 236 murders of trade unionists that occurred between 2004 and 2006, the government has achieved convictions in only five cases. Nearly 40  trade unionists have been murdered since Uribe’s inauguration in August of 2002.

“The Uribe administration’s failure to rectify the situation of impunity is symptomatic of a profound disrespect for trade union rights in Colombia,” said Stephen Coats, Executive Director of the U.S. Labor Education in the Americas Project. “It would be an embarrassment to even consider a vote on a Free Trade Agreement with a country with such unparalleled levels of violence against workers and impunity for the killers,” he stated.

“Colombia once again has the appalling distinction of having more trade unionists killed than the rest of the world combined,” added Charity Ryerson, a USLEAP program analyst who prepared the report, which includes recent data on global trade union murders from the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC). The ITUC released its 2007 report on violence against trade unionists last week, showing that in 2006 Colombia was once again the most dangerous country in the world to be a trade unionist.

Mr. Uribe has been accused of distorting fi gures on trade union violence in his country. In April of this year, he claimed that only 25 trade unionists had been murdered in Colombia during 2006, while the Escuela Nacional Sindical, a well-respected Colombian NGO, reports that number at 72.

The report, as well as supporting documentation, are available on the USLEAP website, at
www.usleap.org/press.
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