Interim Report - Report No 52, 1961

Case No 143 (Spain) - Complaint date: 15-APR-59 - Closed

43. When it continued its examination of this case at its meeting in November 1960, the Committee submitted a further interim report in paragraphs 98 to 139 of its 49th Report, which was approved by the Governing Body at its 147th Session (15-18 November 1960). Subparagraphs (a) and (b) of paragraph 139 contained final recommendations on certain allegations which, therefore, are no longer before the Committee. Subparagraphs (c), (d) and (e) relate to allegations the examination of which has not been concluded and read as follows:

1. ......................................................................................................................................................
2. (c) to decide, with respect to the allegations relating to the arrest of trade union leaders in February 1960, to request the Government to furnish its observations on this aspect of the case; to draw the attention of the Government to the fact that the allegations in question fall within the category of those which are required to be treated as urgent, in accordance with the decision taken by the Governing Body in November 1958, in view of the fact that they relate to matters involving human life or personal freedom; and to request the Government accordingly to furnish a particularly speedy reply in regard to the matters raised;
3. (d) to decide, with regard to the allegations relating to the proceedings instituted in Catalonia against 99 workers accused of having attempted to reconstitute the National Confederation of Labour, outlawed by the Government, to request the Government to furnish its observations on these allegations as soon as possible and to adjourn the examination of this aspect of the case until it has received the said observations;
4. (e) to take note of the present interim report with respect to the allegations relating to the Act defining the new powers of the Minister of the Interior as regards maintenance of public order, it being understood that the Committee will report further thereon when it has received the observations requested from the Government with regard to the communication of the I.C.F.T.U, dated 21 October 1960, and of the W. F. T. U, dated 12 October 1960.
5. These allegations are examined further below.

A. A. The complainants' allegations

• Allegations relating to the Arrest of Trade Unionists in February 1960
  44. 44 In a communication dated 18 August 1960 the W.F.T.U alleges that in February 1960, in the course of a large-scale police operation covering the principal cities of Spain, a considerable number of workers and trade union leaders were arrested, ill-treated and gaoled because of their trade union activities, because of having presented and defended economic and social claims with a view to obtaining improved conditions of living and of work. The complainants supplied a list with the names of 21 persons having thus been arrested.
  45. 45 At its meeting in November 1960 the Committee, not having received the Government's observations on this aspect of the case, submitted to the Governing Body the recommendations contained in paragraph 139 (c) of its 49th Report cited in paragraph 43 above.
  46. 46 The Government forwarded its observations in a letter dated 3 December 1960. The Government begins by stating that the persons referred to in the complaint engaged in activities endangering the security of the State, in accordance with instructions from the Communist Party, which is illegal in Spain. The Government declares that a number of them were present at the Sixth Congress of the Spanish Communist Party held in Prague at the end of 1959 and that some admitted having received a visit from a high official of the Moscow trade unions, and that all were Communist agents in Spain, the Communists using them to give publicity to Communist propaganda leaflets, political manifestos, subversive appeals, etc., inciting their readers to carry on activities contrary to national security and containing instructions directed towards the establishment of conditions favourable to a Communist revolution. Finally the Government states the grounds for the arrests: the persons concerned had acted on behalf of the Communist Party in various regions of Spain; they had distributed Communist propaganda; and they had attended the Communist Congress in Prague.
  47. 47 It is to be observed that the explanation given by the Government emphasises especially the Communist activities of the persons detained and is based on the fact that the Communist Party has been declared illegal in Spain. The Government denies that the arrests were in any way occasioned by activities of a trade union character. The Committee has expressed the view in the past that the question of the prohibition or repression of communism under national legislation is not within its competence but that it must examine measures of a political nature taken by governments in so far as they may indirectly affect the exercise of trade union rights. Thus, in Cases Nos. 63 and 102 relating to the Union of South Africa, the Committee decided that it was competent to examine allegations relating to the South African Suppression of Communism Act, 1950, as amended in 1951, by virtue of which a number of trade union leaders had been barred from all trade union activity. In the former case the Committee concluded that " in so far as the South African Act of 1950 was enacted, as the Government contends, purely for a political reason, namely that of barring Communists in general, as citizens, from all public life, the Committee considers that the matter is one of internal national policy with which it is not competent to deal and on which it should therefore refrain from expressing any view. However, in view of the fact that measures of a political nature may have an indirect effect on the exercise of trade union rights, the Committee wishes to draw the attention of the South African Government to the views which it has expressed in the above cases with regard, first, to the principle that workers, without distinction whatsoever, should have the right to join organisations of their own choosing and, secondly, to the importance of due process in cases in which measures of a political nature may indirectly affect the exercise of trade union rights."
  48. 48 In the past, moreover, where allegations that trade union leaders or workers have been arrested for trade union activities or that their arrests have restricted the exercise of trade union rights have been met by governments with statements that the arrests were made for subversive activities, for reasons of internal security or for common law crimes, the Committee has followed the rule that the governments concerned should be requested to submit further and as precise information as possible concerning the arrests, particularly in connection with the legal or judicial proceedings instituted and the result of such proceedings. If in certain cases the Committee has concluded that allegations relating to the arrest of trade union militants did not call for further examination, this has been after it has received information from the governments showing sufficiently precisely and with sufficient detail that the arrests were in no way occasioned by trade union activities but solely by activities outside the trade union sphere which were either prejudicial to public order or of a political nature.,
  49. 49 In the present case it would appear from the Government's reply that the measures complained against were occasioned by activities of apolitical nature. However, before it submits further recommendations to the Governing Body, the Committee, having regard to the importance that it has always attached to the principle of prompt and fair trial by an independent and impartial judiciary in all cases, including cases in which trade unionists are charged with political or criminal offences which the Government considers have no relation to their trade union functions, has decided to request the Government to be good enough to furnish information as to the legal or judicial proceedings taken in the case of the persons referred to by the complainants and as to the results of such proceedings.
• Allegations relating to Proceedings Instituted in Catalonia against 99 Workers Accused of Having Attempted to Reconstitute the National Confederation of Labour, Which Was Outlawed When the Present Government Came to Power
  50. 50 In a communication dated 13 September 1960 the General Union of Spanish Workers in Exile presents a number of allegations relating to the situation of trade unionism in Spain in connection with the proceedings, not yet concluded, which were instituted against 99 workers accused of having attempted to reconstitute the National Confederation of Labour, which was outlawed when General Franco came to power. A memorandum attached to the complaint contains an analysis of the acts of which the prisoners are accused, of the procedure followed to date, and of the legislation on the basis of which the proceedings were instituted.
  51. 51 At its meeting in November 1960 the Committee, not having received the Government's observations on this aspect of the case, submitted to the Governing Body the recommendations contained in paragraph 139 (d) of its 49th Report, cited in paragraph 43 above.
  52. 52 The Government has not yet furnished observations on these allegations. The Committee, therefore, recommends the Governing Body to repeat the request which it has already made to the Spanish Government to forward its observations as soon as possible.
• Allegations relating to the Draft Law Defining the New Powers of the Minister of the Interior as Regards Maintenance of Public Order
  53. 53 At its meeting in November 1960 the Committee considered these allegations in paragraphs 103 to 117 of its 49th Report. After making this examination, the Committee decided to request the Government to forward its observations on the complaint of the I.C.F.T.U dated 21 October 1960 and on the complaint of the W.F.T.U dated 12 October 1960. As these observations have not been received, the Committee recommends the Governing Body to request the Government to furnish them as soon as possible.

The Committee's recommendations

1. 54. As regards the case as a whole, the Committee recommends the Governing Body:
   • (a) to decide, with regard to the allegations relating to proceedings instituted in Catalonia against 99 workers accused of having attempted to reconstitute the National Confederation of Labour, to repeat the request which it has already made to the Spanish Government to furnish as soon as possible the observations referred to in paragraph 52 above;
   • (b) to request the Government to furnish its observations on the allegations relating to the draft law defining the new powers of the Minister of the Interior as regards maintenance of public order referred to in paragraph 53 above;
   • (c) to take note of the present interim report on the allegations relating to the arrest of trade unionists in February 1960, it being understood that the Committee will report further thereon when it has received the information requested in paragraph 49 above.