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10 August, 2005ICEM News release No. 60/2001
Yet another trade union leader has been murdered in Colombia.
Doris Núñez Lozano, a leader of the electricity workers' union Sintraelecol, was assassinated in the city of Fusagasuga on 17 August.
Her brutal death is the latest in a long series of killings directed against Colombian trade unionists. Labour activists are among the most frequent targets for assassination in Colombia - mainly by right-wing death squads, and sometimes also by guerrilla movements.
At least 129 Colombian trade unionists were murdered in 2000, and over 60 more since the beginning of this year. Others have "disappeared". Trade unionists and their families face constant threats and intimidation.
Amnesty International has described attacks on trade unionists in Colombia as "widespread and systematic."
Human rights campaigners inside the country allege that the death squads are linked to the Colombian military.
In a protest letter to Colombia's President Andres Pastrana, the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) urged him to ensure that those responsible for Núñez's murder are identified and brought to justice.
"The continual killing of trade unionists in your country is inadmissible," ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs told Pastrana.
The ICEM has repeatedly pressed the Colombian authorities to hold a full investigation into the murders, most of which have gone unexplained and unpunished.
Doris Núñez Lozano, a leader of the electricity workers' union Sintraelecol, was assassinated in the city of Fusagasuga on 17 August.
Her brutal death is the latest in a long series of killings directed against Colombian trade unionists. Labour activists are among the most frequent targets for assassination in Colombia - mainly by right-wing death squads, and sometimes also by guerrilla movements.
At least 129 Colombian trade unionists were murdered in 2000, and over 60 more since the beginning of this year. Others have "disappeared". Trade unionists and their families face constant threats and intimidation.
Amnesty International has described attacks on trade unionists in Colombia as "widespread and systematic."
Human rights campaigners inside the country allege that the death squads are linked to the Colombian military.
In a protest letter to Colombia's President Andres Pastrana, the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM) urged him to ensure that those responsible for Núñez's murder are identified and brought to justice.
"The continual killing of trade unionists in your country is inadmissible," ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs told Pastrana.
The ICEM has repeatedly pressed the Colombian authorities to hold a full investigation into the murders, most of which have gone unexplained and unpunished.