ILO Governing Body, 351^st session 

Complaint alleging non-observance by Guatemala of 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)

GB.351/INS/8

15 June 2024

EU Statement

Chair,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union and its Member States.

The candidate countries North Macedonia*, Montenegro*, Albania* and Republic of Moldova, and the EFTA countries Iceland and Norway, members of the European Economic Area, align themselves with this statement.

1. The EU and its Member States are committed to the promotion, protection, respect and fulfilment of human rights, including labour rights, such as the right to freedom of association. We promote universal ratification and effective implementation of fundamental ILO Conventions and support the ILO in developing and promoting international labour standards and supervising their application.
2. We thank the Office for its report. We regret that, after the end of the implementation of the three-year technical cooperation programme in Guatemala following a complaint, we are discussing a new complaint alleging non-observance of Convention 87 on Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise and on Convention 98 on the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining.
3. In December 2023 the Committee of Experts noted with concern the persistence of serious violations of Convention No. 87 and of significant shortcomings in compliance with Convention No. 98 and urged the Government to intensify its efforts to overcome the legislative and practical difficulties in the application of these Conventions, with the technical assistance of the Office.
4. We acknowledge the commitment expressed and action described by the new Government of Guatemala in its letter of April 2024, in order to implement both conventions and strengthen tripartite social dialogue as a fundamental tool for democracy and social justice.
5. We note positively the steps taken to provide legislative recognition of the National Tripartite Committee on Labour Relations and Freedom of Association CNTRLLS, through which continued tripartite social dialogue is ensured. Tripartite consultations and robust social dialogue are crucial for complying with fundamental principles and rights at work. Strengthening these in Guatemala is vital for effectively realising labour rights.
6. We acknowledge the increased budget to investigate serious acts of violence. Yet, we remain deeply concerned about the persistence of a high degree of impunity in the great majority of the many murders of members of the trade union movement. We urge the Government to strengthen the prevention, protection, and response mechanisms in respect of threats and attacks against trade union officials and activists, as requested by the Committee of experts for many years.
7. We urge the Government to complete, without delay and in consultation with social partners, the legislative reform process to ensure full compliance with ILO fundamental Conventions 87 and 98.  
8. We welcome the steps to streamline the trade union registration process based on close consultations with the social partners with a clear indication that the process will be finalized in 2024. We urge the government to further strengthen awareness raising on freedom of association – also to reach sectors with a very low unionization rate, such as agriculture and export processing – and to abolish the obstacles to the exercise of collective bargaining in both the private and public sectors.
9. We wish to remind Guatemala of its commitment in the trade and sustainable development title of the EU-Central America Association Agreement to effectively implement the fundamental ILO Conventions in both law and practice.
10. The EU re-affirms its commitment to strengthen related technical assistance capacities. We are preparing a second phase of the technical assistance   “Supporting the State of Guatemala in meeting the commitments in the road map on freedom of association and collective bargaining,” to be implemented by the ILO under the EU programme “Support to decent employment in Guatemala.” We work closely with the Government of Guatemala, ILO and national tripartite constituents to further enhance the efficiency of the technical assistance. We are also working in widening the scope of our technical assistance for strengthening institutional capacities in the framework of the aforementioned programme. We remain committed to our close cooperation and partnership with Guatemala in the fulfilment of all its obligations.
11. With this chair, we support the draft decision.

Thank you, Chair.

*North Macedonia, Montenegro and Albania continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.