On 2nd March, Miguel Angel Ramirez from the banana workers' union SITRABANSUR was murdered. He worked on "Finca Olga Maria", which was owned by FRUTERA Internacional S.A. Shortly before, this company forced him to resign from his trade union activities.

Raise your voice to halt trade union violence in Guatemala and send an urgent appeal to the authorities in Guatemala!!

Instead of the annual, large-scale gathering somewhere around the globe, the World Social Forum 2008 edition comes to you: from 19 to 26 January, thousands of activities will be organised in many cities around the world, culminating in the Global Day of Action on Saturday 26 January 2008.

To find out what's on the menu in Brussels during that week and especially on the Global Day of Action, follow the link.

At the occassion of the 10th anniverdary of the Peace Accords in Guatemala, Social Alert International and its network organisations in Guatemala made a serious report on the situation in the country.

All the answers to questions such as how impunity and social injustice have become institutionalised and why trade unionism is a life-threatening job in this Central American country, you will find in this report. On the basis of the recommendations, Social Alert International will strongly advocate for more compliance with the commitments of the Peace Accords.

The report is available in english, french and spanish and can be downloaded free of charge on the link below. Use the "Contact" details if you would like to receive a hard copy of the report. 

Libel, xenophobia, cyber crime…these are nothing less than the criminal accusations which have led a court of justice of Bangalore (India) to issue an international arrest warrant against seven Dutch militants of the Clean Clothes Campaign, following a complaint filed by the Indian enterprise « Fibre and Fabrics International ». For more information (in French only), follow the link below, where you will also find the (English) press release marking 17 December as an international day of action for the workers of FFI who had testified openly with the CCC of their appalling working conditions.

For the 4the time this year, a trade union leader is the victim of a brutal murder. Marco Tulio Ramirez Portela, Secretary of Culture and Sports of the Guatemalan Banana Workers Union of Izabal, SITRABI and the brother of Noé Antonio Ramírez Portela, the union’s General Secretary, was murdered only weeks after the army raided the union's premises.  Hereafter, you find a sample letter which you can use to ask the government to properly investigate this crime. 

For a detailed account of the circumstances of the murder (available in spanish only), click here  300907 Actualizacion Asesinato Marco Tulio