Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2022, published 111st ILC session (2023)

Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Guatemala (Ratification: 1952)

On the basis of allegations of the Guatemalan Trade Union, Indigenous and Peasant Movement (MSICG), which asserted that sections 256, 292, 294 and 414 of the Penal Code facilitated the criminalization of peaceful labour protests by means of an excessively broad and subjective characterization of common offences (such as usurpation of buildings or paralysation of means of transport), the Committee asked the Government to provide information on the possible application in practice of the above-mentioned provisions of the Penal Code to events occurring in the context of the exercise of freedom of association, in particular the right to strike.

In this regard, the Committee notes that the Government forwards the reply of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, which indicates that: (i) the mere fact of holding a labour protest or demonstration of any kind in Guatemala does not constitute a criminal act; on the contrary, this is a right guaranteed by article 33 of the Political Constitution of the Republic of Guatemala, which establishes the right of assembly and demonstration, and the Public Prosecutor’s Office guarantees the observance of this article of the Constitution; (ii) the common offences covered by sections 256, 292, 294 and 414 of the Penal Code have a similar wording to that found in other Penal Codes in a number of Central American countries (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras); and (iii) the aforementioned sections focus on safeguarding the whole population, and it should be borne in mind that the mere fact of legally regulating illicit conduct does not entail the suppression of labour or trade union rights by the State. While duly noting this information, the Committee requests the Government to provide specific information on instances when any of the above-mentioned articles of the Penal Code may have been applied to labour protests in practice.