10 May, 2011The Tribunal on Trade Union Freedom in Mexico has issued a new resolution describing a deterioration in the freedom of association situation and an increase in state violence.
MEXICO: The International Tribunal on Trade Union Freedom in Mexico held further working sessions on April 28-30. These once again demonstrated the structural nature of the violence inflicted by the Mexican government on workers and their trade unions.
One year after the last session, the Tribunal observed with alarm that the situation regarding the systematic violation of basic labour rights has become even more acute
Héctor de la Cueva, Tribunal coordinator, explained: "We have just issued a resolution, the second resolution, which reports serious violations of the freedom of workers to organize in trade unions and the climate of violence in Mexico, not only in the country as a whole, but specifically against unionized workers. The violence against workers' organizations in Mexico is being promoted in various ways by the Mexican government itself and the Tribunal demands an end to this state of affairs."
He added: "The country needs peace and it is in the power of the state to stop any act of aggression. This resolution covers practically all the international human rights agreements, particularly the ILO conventions, that are being violated in the country. Various cases were presented, with testimony from the affected organizations, such as the Mexican Miners' Union. The Tribunal notes that all the rights that the ILO holds as being fundamental for the freedom of association are being violated in the case of the Miners' Union and also in the case of the SME and many other movements that are unfortunately the victims of labour rights violations," he said.
The Tribunal issued a series of resolutions and conclusions directed at national and international bodies and called on the international trade union movement, including all the international trade union federations, to adopt these resolutions and support a series of initiatives that could be taken in different forums. The coordinator maintained that "it is important that support is given to trade union resolutions put forward to international organisations like the ILO, so we are asking for international federations such as the IMF, which are members of the organising committee of the International Tribunal, to support its denunciations and resolutions and use this instrument, this resolution, as it sees fit in the various international forums, where it can be used as a basis for action, especially in the case of the miners of Mexico."
The Trade Union Freedom Tribunal in Mexico is a civil society tribunal, convened and sponsored by trade unions and civil society organisations from various countries, including Mexico. Its judges are lawyers, experts on labour and human rights from various fields, that have been brought together to consider the freedom of association situation in Mexico, explained Héctor de la Cueva.
He added that the Tribunal is a court of conscience and its resolutions are therefore not binding. The resolutions do however have moral weight so they can be presented to other international bodies such as the ILO.
With regard to the possibility that the Tribunal could act in other countries of Latin America, Héctor said that requests have been made to take the Tribunal to other countries where there are serious violations of basic labour rights, especially the freedom of association. He explained that in this context, "a discussion has begun to see which international organizations are willing to fund the Tribunal's work in Latin America and further afield; some trade unions say that a Tribunal on the Freedom of Association should consider the situation in the United States. So the situation is that we are in discussions to define the scope of the Tribunal and the composition of the organizing committee, that is, which organizations would fund the Tribunal's work if it were to also address the situation in other countries. We have had a request to take the Tribunal to Colombia, for example, where it would be necessary to create a broad, diverse and plural national committee and an international committee that would be able to continue the Tribunal's work and we are working for that to happen," he concluded.