Dear friends,
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that Mount Lavinia police severely assaulted numerous Bata Shoe Company workers in Colombo on 12 August 2004, to break up a 52-day long protest.
Male and female workers were seriously injured in the police assault, after which the police arbitrarily arrested 13 of them. A few workers even had to be hospitalized due to the severity of the assault. Your urgent intervention is required to demand an investigation into the use of force by the police and to provide medical assistance to the victims.
Urgent Appeals Desk
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)
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CASE DETAILS:
About 600 hundred employees of the Bata Shoe Company Ceylon (Ltd.) were brutally assaulted by the Mount Lavinia police on 12 August 2004 while conducting a peaceful sit-down strike opposite the Bata premises in Ratmalana, an industrial area on the southern outskirts of Colombo.
The sit-down strike was in its 52nd day as a protest against Bata sacking a trade union leader as well as other workers. On that day, August 12, the protesting workers slept on the ground to obstruct the Bata trucks carrying finished products, which led to the brutal assault by the police. The workers were unarmed as Police Riot Squads used tear gas, water cannons and batons to attack and forcibly evict them, causing 13 workers to be hospitalized. Another 15 workers were taken into custody, including two women activists; one was kicked in the stomach by a policeman and the others hand was crushed by a policewoman, following a complaint made by the management.
On the next day, August 13, three union activists out of the 15 arrested workers were remanded till August 16 while the rest were released on bail.
AHRC is deeply concerned about the brutal use of force by the police against unarmed workers. Under article 8.1(d) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, everyone has the right to strike and this right is further elaborated in that the exercise of this right shall not be restricted by the police or armed forces. For this reason AHRC urges intervention in this case immediately. Labour disputes cannot be solved by suppressing the workers with violence.
SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please send a letter, fax or email to the relevant authorities expressing your concern regarding this case.
2. Mr. Mahinda Samaraweera
Minister of Labor and Employment
Ministry of Labor
Colombo 05
SRI LANKA
Fax: +94 11 2 588 950
3. Minister of Interior
Ministry of Interior,
P.O. Box 572, No. 15/5, Baladaksha,
Mawatha,
Colombo 3,
SRI LANKA
Tel: 941 2 430-860
Fax: 94 11 2 385526
4. Mr. T.I. de Silva
Inspector General of Police (IGP)
New Secretariat
Colombo 1
SRI LANKA
Fax: +94 11 2 440440/426711/327877
5. Dr. Radhika Coomaraswamy
Chairperson
Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka
No. 36, Kynsey Road
Colombo 8
SRI LANKA
Tel: +94 11 2 694 925 / 673 806
Fax: +94 11 2 694 924 / 696 470
E-mail:
sechrc@sltnet.lk7. Director
International Labour Organization
Area Office, Colombo
Tel: 94 11 2 50 0539
Fax: 94 11 2 50 0865
8. BATA LIMITED
Bata International Centre
12 Concorde Place
TORONTO, Ontario
M3C 3R8 Canada
Fax: +1 416 445 2050
To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER
SAMPLE LETTER
Dear
I am writing to you in protest of the use of armed force on workers by the Mount Lavinia police on 12 August 2004. The police used tear gas, water cannons and batons to forcibly disperse the unarmed workers, who were in the 52nd day of a sit-down strike after the Bata Shoe Company sacked a trade union leader and other workers.
Under article 8.1(d) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, everyone has the right to strike and this right is further elaborated in that the exercise of this right shall not be restricted by the police or armed forces.
I condemn such brutal use of force to break up peaceful protests in violation of international law and urge you to conduct an immediate impartial investigation into the police behaviour. The responsible officers must be prosecuted under the Torture Act of 1994. I further urge you to provide medical assistance to the victims of the assault.
Yours sincerely,
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Thank you.
Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)
