Definitive Report - Report No 12, 1954

A. Analysis of the Complaints

1. 167. In the complaints submitted it is alleged that the Colombian Government is pursuing a policy of repression of trade union rights and that agricultural workers who carry on trade union activity are arrested and sentenced for so doing. In support of this general charge, the complainants have put forward two specific allegations:
   • (a) In one of the complaints it is alleged that Mr. Elsia Molina, an agricultural worker, has been condemned to three years' hard labour, while another agricultural worker, Mr. Carlos Arias, has been court-martial led and sentenced to one year's imprisonment without being given a chance to defend himself.
   • (b) In the other five complaints it is alleged that Mr. Luis Hortiz, the leader of the peasants, has been assassinated after being brutally tortured because he refused to denounce other leaders of the democratic trade union movement.

B. Analysis of the First Reply

1. 168. In its reply dated 16 September 1953 the Colombian Government dealt only with the allegation concerning the torture of Mr. Luis Ortiz, stating that the accusation was absurd and tendentious. The Ministry of Labour, which had care fully inquired into the matter, had found nothing to give rise to any supposition that the alleged offence had been committed. In the course of the inquiry the Ministry consulted the register of trade unions, which contains the names of the officials of the different trade unions in Colombia; three persons named Luis Ortiz were on the register but none of them had undergone the torture referred to. The Government had therefore come to the conclusion that the sole purpose of the complaint was to discredit internationally the social progress achieved by the Colombian Government.

C. Request for Further Information

1. 169. When examining the case at its meeting in November 1953 the Committee observed that the Government's reply contained no observations with respect to the allegation relating to the arrest of Messrs. Elsia Molina and Carlos Arias. With respect to the allegation relating to Mr. Luis Hortiz the Committee took the view that the statement by the Government to the effect that three persons named Luis Ortiz appeared on the register of trade unions and were in good health did not in itself exclude the possibility that a leader of the peasants, who might perhaps have belonged to an organisation which had been deprived of legal personality under the legislation in force so that the names of its officials would not appear on the trade union register, might have been tortured.
2. 170. The Committee, therefore, decided to request the Director-General to ask the Colombian Government for further information.
3. 171. The Director-General conveyed this request to the Colombian Government by a letter dated 4 December 1953.

D. Analysis of the Second Reply

1. 172. In its reply dated 4 March 1954 the Government reaffirms that the complainants' allegations are entirely unfounded. In particular, it appears as a result of the further inquiries which the Government has conducted with the greatest care that none of the persons whose trade union rights are alleged to have been infringed appears in the trade union register or is known to the labour authorities. Persons bearing the name of Carlos Araya or Arias, Elsia Molina and Luis Ortiz or Hortiz, or any similar name, are enjoying all the rights and freedoms accorded to them by law.

E. E. The Committee's conclusions

1. 173. The Committee recalls that, in its Sixth Report, it examined a complaint presented by the World Federation of Trade Unions in which it was alleged that certain Colombian trade union leaders, including Mr. Carlos Araya, had been persecuted by the Colombian Government.
2. 174. The conclusions reached by the Committee in that case were as follows:
3. 597. The Colombian Government gives a formal assurance that, after addressing an inquiry to the administrative and judicial authorities, it has been unable to trace the name of the person -Mr. Carlos Arayas - alleged to have been persecuted because of his trade union activities. It maybe, as the Government itself admits is possible, that some confusion as to the name exists, but it is evident that the responsibility for a mistake of this kind must be borne by the complainant because he has not given adequate details in his complaint.
4. 598. In these circumstances the Committee recommends the Governing Body to decide that the allegations made are too vague to permit a consideration of the case on its merits.
5. 175. This recommendation was approved by the Governing Body at its 121st Session (3-6 March 1953) and the Colombian Government was informed accordingly by the Director-General by a letter dated 21 March 1953.
6. 176. The Committee notes that the Colombian Government, relying on the repeated inquiries which it has made, has not only affirmed that no person answering to the name of Carlos Arayas or Arias, Elsia Molina or Luis Ortiz or Hortiz appears in the register of trade unions or is known to the labour authorities, but has emphasised once again that persons bearing these or similar names are in full enjoyment of their rights and liberties.