FITIM FISM
INTERNATIONAL METALWORKERS' FEDERATION INTERNATIONALER METALLGEWERKSCHAFTSBUND FEDERATION INTERNATIONALE DES ORGANISATIONS DE TRAVAILLEURS DE LA METALLURGIE INTERNATIONELLA METALLFEDERATIONEN FEDERACION INTERNACIONAL DE TRABAJADORES DE LAS INDUSTRIAS METALURGICAS FEDERAZIONE INTERNAZIONALE DEI SINDACATI METALMECCANICI
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IMF IMB FIOM
President: Berthold Huber General Secretary: Jyrki Raina
10th February 2011 To Santiago Cantón Executive Secretary Inter-American Commission on Human Rights 1889 F Street, N.W.; Washington, D.C. 20006 cidhoea@oas.org
IMF Condemns Violence and Death Threats against workers from Center for Worker Support (CAT) Dear Santiago Cantón, As General Secretary of the International Metalworkers’ Federation (IMF), which represents the collective interests of 25 million metalworkers from more than 200 unions in 100 countries, I wish to support the petition—submitted by the Proyecto de Derechos Económicos, Sociales y Culturales (ProDESC) on 21 January 2011—concerning the ongoing violence and death threats against human rights and labor rights defenders Blanca Velázquez, Catalina Guzmán, Victoria Hernández, Cecilia Medina y Enrique Morales Montaño from the Center for Worker Support (CAT) in Puebla, México. It is important to add that the Center for Worker Support (CAT) works as a partner organization, along with the National Miners' and Metalworkers' Union of Mexico (SNTMMSRM), which is affiliated to the IMF, and the AFL-CIO Solidarity Center, on worker-organizing activities at Johnson Controls Interiors (JCI) in Puebla. The IMF calls upon the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights for its urgent intervention to ensure that the Mexican authorities:
Conduct an unbiased and thorough investigation into the burglary of CAT’s offices and issuance of threats, applying the rule of law to all suspects identified by the investigation;
Deploy a system of protective and precautionary security for all CAT staff who requests it until such a time that the risk of violent attacks, including kidnapping and murder, no longer exist.
I appreciate your prompt attention to this matter very much. With best regards,
Jyrki Raina IMF General Secretary