The International Tribunal on Freedom of Association was formed in September 2009 to investigate allegations of gross violations of fundamental human rights by the Mexican government, acting in complicity with transnational corporations and official unions, against the workers and leaders of Mexico’s independent trade union movement. The accusations range from armed attacks on independent unions by the army, police and paramilitaries to mass firings, including the firing of all 44,000 members of the Mexican Electricity Workers Union. The Tribunal heard testimony and received documentary evidence from eighteen different independent unions and workers’ rights organizations over the course of several months. The Final Resolution of the Tribunal, attached, analyzes the evidence and arguments presented to the Tribunal, concludes that the government is guilty of almost all the allegations against it, demands prompt and full remediation, appeals for solidarity from the international labor movement, and declares the intention to seek the intervention of pertinent international bodies such as the International Labor Organization. Also attached is the shorter Declaration of the Tribunal.
The Tribunal was composed of prominent labor and human rights experts from all over the Americas and Europe. The NLG’s L&E Committee and International Labor Justice Working Group were represented on the Tribunal by Dean Hubbard. Cynthia Mellon and Dean Hubbard prepared the English translation of the Tribunal’s Final Resolution, which will be used in the proceedings before the ILO and other international agencies whose official language is English. Reports and Documents
