Brussels, 14 March 2007: The International Trade Union Confederation has denounced the fact that Costa Rican trade unionists are suffering from an increasing offensive against them in that country. Marco Núñez Arias, a member of parliament from the Libertarian Movement, submitted a formal complaint to the Attorney-General against the leaders of the most representative national trade union organisations for having themselves lodged complaints to the ILO against the government of Costa Rica.
In a letter to the government on 13 March 2007 the ITUC protested strongly about this attempted rebuke of trade union leaders: Presidente Arias denuncia movimiento sindical (Spanish).
The trade unionists had turned to the ILO because both national and international legislation on workers’ rights are being systematically flouted in Costa Rica. Despite the country’s strongly democratic reputation, a strategy aimed at wiping out trade unions is being pursued.
Oscar Arias, the country’s President, received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987 for his role as a key architect of the peace processes in the internal conflicts in Central America in the 1980s. As a result he was one of the most distinguished guests at the International Labour Conference in June 2006 in Geneva. Arias stated in a speech that “the best support that can be afforded to an organization like the ILO is working to ensure that the guidelines it issues are put into practice and respected by every national system”. As the ITUC sees it, those words should be applied more consistently in his dealings with the trade union movement in his country.
The ITUC asked President Arias, the Minister of Labour and the Attorney-General for the sanctions that Mr. Núñez would like applied against Costa Rican trade union leaders “not to be considered or implemented”, stating that the international trade union movement would be “keeping a close watch on developments".
Founded on November 1 2006, the ITUC represents 168 million workers in 153 countries and territories and has 304 national affiliates.
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