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Colombia’s Accession to the OECD
Submission to the OECD Employment, Labour and Social Affairs Committee (ELSAC)

10/05/2017

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  • TUAC Submission to the OECD ELSACpdf

TUAC Position


  • TUAC considers that Colombia has failed to make adequate progress on the recommendations made by ELSAC in April 2015, with regard to respect of labour rights and the rights and safety of trade union representatives.
  • ELSAC should assess progress on the basis of actual progress made, not recent announcements.  TUAC is aware of potential opportunities under the “Fast Track” legislative process for implementing the Peace Accord and recent announcements made by the Colombian Labour Minister.
  • TUAC fully understands that OECD membership marks the beginning, not the end, of a journey, along which a country expects to improve its policies and practices. However, Colombia has been criticised over a number of years for failing to implement commitments made on labour rights in various international processes including, in 2017, by two ELSAC members, Canada and the US. This signals a lack of political will. It also points to the importance of the OECD maintaining leverage, which is considerably stronger in a pre-accession rather than a post-accession context.