The International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH) is “very worried”
about a “wave of assassinations” of labor rights activists and union
leaders.
In a letter to Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, the human rights organization says to be “very worried” for the security and integrity of labor rights workers and demand a “personal and public condemnation of these murders” by the the President.
The letter of the NGO is in reaction to a recent report by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) that says that since April five Colombian union leaders were assassinated. The ITUC also sent a letter to Uribe calling on his government to “carry out urgent and conclusive investigations to bring those
responsible to justice, and thus break the chain of impunity characterizing the murders of trade unionists.”
The human rights organization also demands Uribe to rectify his allegations that lawyers, paid by foreign organizations, falsely accuse members of the military of murdering civilians. The NGO states that statements like this “contribute to teh continuation of crimes against human rights defenders.”
The situation of unionists in Colombia is one of the reasons that U.S. Congress refuses to ratify a free trade pact with Colombia.