Brussels, 3 June 2008: The Colombian government appeared today in Geneva before the Committee on the Application of Standards at the ILO’s annual session of the International Labour Conference.

During the debate, worker representatives from around the world referred to the violations of freedom of association and collective bargaining rights in Colombia.
Since the beginning of 2008, 26 trade unionists have been murdered, a 71 per cent increase for the same period last year. For all of these murders impunity persists, as for some 97% of the more than 2,500 murders of Colombian trade unionists since 1986.

The Colombian government appeared before the committee as the result of the extraordinary pressure from the international labour movement, which rejected its attempts to avoid coming before the committee. The outcome of the discussion on Colombia will be included in the full conclusions and recommendations of the committee.

The ITUC represents 168 million workers in 155 countries and territories and has 311 national affiliates.

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