E-appeal: oppose intimidation of trade union leaders in Sri Lanka

Labour Behind the Label is gravely concerned about recent developments
in Sri Lanka, where trade unionists are being intimidated and threatened
with abduction, as a result of a public campaign depicting them as
traitors and terrorists. Six trade union leaders, including the leader
of the FTZGSEU,which represents Sri Lankan garment workers, are
receiving threats, including death threats and are asking the
authorities to take steps to ensure their safety.

Please send a letter of concern to the president of Sri Lanka, urging
him to take immediate measures in order to guarantee the safety of all
trade unionists under threat.
Take action
http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c...

On 6 February, three men, including an activist from the railway workers
union, were abducted in Colombo by unknown groups. This sparked a
spontaneous protest the next day in front of the main Fort Railway
Station by trade unionists. Two days later, on 8 February, the Sri
Lankan government declared that the abducted men, including the trade
unionist, were in government custody, and that they were being
interrogated on suspicion of collaboration with Liberation Tigers of
Tamil Elam (LTTE) insurgents.

Trade unionists receiving death threats

This seems to fit in with a campaign explicitly aimed at linking trade
unionists with insurgents. Key trade union activists who participated in
the Fort Railway Station protest on 6 February are now being publicly
accused of being covert terrorist operatives.

Since 8 February, posters depicting trade union leaders as traitors and
terrorists have begun to appear in many parts of the country, calling
for their arrest. Anton Marcus of the Free Trade Zone and General
Services Employees' Union (FTZGSEU)- which is affiliated to the
International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers' Federation (ITGLWF),
Sman Ratnapriya and Ravi Kumudesh of the Health Sector Trade Union
Alliance (HSTUA), Sampath Rajitha and Raja Kannangara of the Joint
Railway Trade Union Alliance (JRTUA), and Joseph Stalin of the Ceylon
Teachers' Union (CTU) are among the targeted trade unionists.

As a result of these false allegations, several threats, including death
threats, have been made against these leaders. On 21 February, the
FTZGSEU and the HSTUA lodged a number of complaints with the police, in
order to seek protection for their right to continue their trade union
activities and to protect their lives. To date the law enforcement
authorities have failed to take constructive measures to guarantee their
safety.

The Asian Human Rights Commission warns that in Sri Lanka in recent
decades disappearances have been developed as a very sophisticated
technique to deal with opponents, whether they be political opponents,
trade unionists or anyone else engaged in any form of protest. The AHRC
stresses the lack of significant action on the part of the government to
bring the recent increase in disappearances to a halt.

Click here
http://www.ahrchk.net/statements/mainfile.php/2007statements/917/
for the AHRC press release.

Please send a letter of concern to the president of Sri Lanka, urging
him to take immediate measures in order to guarantee the safety of all
trade unionists under threat and ensure an environment which is free of
intimidation and is conducive to a normal development of trade union
activities.
Take action now! (LabourStart website:
http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c...)

If you would like to send a letter/fax then see next page for address
details and sample letter.

President Mahinda Rajapakshe,
gosl@presidentsl.orgThis e-mail address is being protected from spam
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Fax No: +94 11 2542919
Please send copies to LBL:action@labourbehindthelabel.orgThis e-mail
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Sample letter:
The Hon. President of Sri Lanka,
RE: Intimidation and threats of abduction to trade unionists

I write to you to express my grave concern about the risks that trade
unionists face, while carrying out their legitimate activities, in Sri
Lanka. I urge you to intervene and take strong action in support of the
current trade unionists, whose lives are currently at risk and to
support the right of all trade unionists to carry out their activities.

On 6 February, three men, including a trade unionist, were abducted in
Colombo by unknown groups. This sparked a spontaneous protest the next
day in front of the main Fort Railway Station by trade unionists. Two
days later, on 8 February, your government declared that the abducted
men, including the trade unionist, were in government custody, and that
they were being interrogated on suspicion of collaboration with
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE) insurgents.

Key trade union activists who participated in the Fort Railway Station
protest on 6 February are now being publicly accused of being covert
terrorist operatives. Since 8 February, posters depicting trade union
leaders as traitors and terrorists have begun to appear in many parts of
the country, calling for their arrest. Anton Marcus of the Free Trade
Zone and General Services Employees' Union (FTZGSEU)- which is
affiliated to the International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers'
Federation (ITGLWF), Sman Ratnapriya and Ravi Kumudesh of the Health
Sector Trade Union Alliance (HSTUA), Sampath Rajitha and Raja Kannangara
of the Joint Railway Trade Union Alliance (JRTUA), and Joseph Stalin of
the Ceylon Teachers' Union (CTU) are among the targeted trade unionists.

As a result of these false allegations, several threats, including death
threats, have been made against trade unionists. On 21 February, the
FTZGSEU and the HSTUA lodged a number of complaints with the police, in
order to seek protection for their right to continue their trade union
activities and to protect their lives. I understand that to date the law
enforcement authorities have failed to take constructive measures to
guarantee their safety.

The exercise of trade union rights is enshrined in International Labour
Organisation (ILO) Conventions numbers 87 (Freedom of Association) and
98 (the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining), to which your
country is a signatory. Your government should therefore take measures
in order to provide a climate in which these rights, as stipulated in
the abovementioned ILO Conventions, can be implemented. Trade Unions
have no objections to the government's plans of safeguarding law and
order and are willing to extend their fullest cooperation to such
efforts. However these efforts can not be at the expense of workers
human rights or human rights in general, which I know would agree, are
critical to democracy in your country.

I urge you to take immediate measures in order to:
guarantee the safety of all trade unionists under threat, and ensure an
environment which is free of intimidation and is conducive to a normal
development of trade union activities;
investigate the complaints lodged by the aforesaid trade unionists and
guarantee their safety;
ensure the due process of law on all acts of threats and intimidation.

I look forward to your timely intervention and response.

Yours respectfully,
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