Interim Report - Report No 230, November 1983

Case No 1195 (Guatemala) - Complaint date: 18-APR-83 - Closed

1. 689. The complaint is contained in a communication from the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) dated 18 April 1983. The ICFTU sent supplementary information in communications of 25 April and 15 June and 12 October 1983. The Government replied in a communication of 14 June 1983.
2. 690. Guatemala has ratified the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) and the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98).

A. The complainant's allegations

1. 691. The ICFTU alleges the arrest and disappearance of Mrs. Yolanda Urízar Martínez de Aguilar, legal adviser of the National Workers' Central. According to the ICFTU, on 25 March 1983 persons in civilian clothing, who did not identify themselves, forcibly detained Mrs. Urízar in the Costa Sur region. Her whereabouts are still unknown. According to the complainant, everything indicates that the security forces were responsible for her disappearance.
2. 692. The ICFTU indicates that Mrs. Urízar - who had experienced a long period of imprisonment, persecution and death threats - was living in exile until three years ago and had recently returned to Guatemala under the amnesty announced by the President of the Republic. Her husband and her 7-year-old son were murdered in 1975, and in 1979 her 16-year-old daughter was kidnapped by members of the judicial police and tortured in their custody. The ICFTU attaches a copy of a handwritten letter from the daughter addressed to the United Nations Human Rights Commission corroborating the allegations. The letter indicates the existence of witnesses to the capture and later confinement of Mrs. Uírzar in the Santa Ana military base in Berlín, Department of Quetzaltenango. The ICFTU concludes by stating that systematic violation of basic human rights continues in Guatemala and that it fears for the life of Mrs. Urízar.
3. 693. In a further communication of 12 October 1983 the ICFTU sent, within the framework of another case relating to Guatemala, information that it had been informed that the Government had decided to have Mrs. Urízar and other trade unionists executed by firing squad.

B. The Government's reply

1. 694. The Government states that Mrs. Yolanda Urízar Martínez de Aguilar has not been detained by the national security forces and that police will continue their investigation until they establish her whereabouts. The Government indicates that the Minister of National Defence informed Mrs. Urízar's family that a full investigation would be conducted until she was located. Finally, the Government states that as soon as it has any information on the case it will notify the ILO.

C. The Committee's conclusions

1. 695. The Committee takes note of the allegations of the complainant regarding the arrest and disappearance of Mrs. Yolanda Urízar Martínez de Aguilar, legal adviser of the National Workers' Central, and of the Government's reply. The Committee takes note in particular of the Government's statement that Mrs. Urízar was not detained by the national security forces.
2. 696. While the Committee observes that the Government has stated that the police will continue to investigate until they have established her whereabouts, it must express its serious concern, observing that more than seven months after the disappearance of Mrs. Urízar, the investigations undertaken do not appear to have produced information clarifying the case, and that the copy of a letter written by Mrs. Urízar's daughter and transmitted by the complainant indicates the existence of witnesses to the capture and subsequent confinement of Mrs. Urízar in the Santa Ana military base in Berlín, Department of Quetzaltenango.
3. 697. In these circumstances, the Committee would insist that the inquiry into the disappearance of Mrs. Urízar be completed as a matter of urgency and it draws the Government's attention to the fact that a free and independent trade union movement can only develop in society that respects and guarantees the right to the security of the person and the other fundamental human rights.' The Committee requests the Government to keep it informed of the results of the investigations that are in progress.
4. 698. It asks the Government to send as a matter of the utmost urgency its observations on the communication of the ICFTU of 12 October 1983 concerning the decision that is said to have been taken to execute Mrs. Urízar and several trade unionists by firing squad.
   • The Committee urges the Government to rescind this decision, if this is the case.

The Committee's recommendations

1. 699. In these circumstances, the Committee recommends the Governing Body to approve this interim report and, in particular, the following conclusions:
   • (a) The Committee expresses its serious concern that, seven months after the disappearance of Mrs. Yolanda Urízar Martínez de Aguilar, legal advisor of the National Workers' Central, the investigations undertaken in this regard do not appear to have produced information clarifying the case.
   • (b) The Committee would insist that the inquiry into the disappearance of Mrs. Urízar be completed as a matter or urgency and it draws the Government's attention to the fact that a free and independent trade union movement can only develop in a society that respects and guarantees the right to the security of the person and the other fundamental human rights. The Committee requests the Government to inform it of the results of the investigations that are in progress.
   • (c) It asks the Government to send its observations as a matter of the utmost urgency concerning the alleged decision of the Government to have Mrs. Urízar and several trade unionists executed by firing squad. The Committee urges the Government to rescind this decision, if this is the case.