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Preventive detention (Trade union rights and civil liberties)Description:(CFA: Digest of Decisions 2006) Subject classification: Freedom of Association Document:0204 Subject: Freedom of Association, Collective Bargaining, and Industrial Relations Display the document in: French Spanish Document No. (ilolex): 2320060204 Preventive detention (See also paras. 86 and 120)76. Measures of preventive detention may involve a serious interference with trade union activities which can only be justified by the existence of a serious situation or emergency and which would be open to criticism unless accompanied by adequate judicial safeguards applied within a reasonable period. (See the 1996 Digest, para. 85; and 305th Report, Case No. 2304, para. 1013.) 77. The preventive detention of trade unionists on the ground that breaches of the law may take place in the course of a strike involves a serious danger of infringement of trade union rights.(See the 1996 Digest, para. 86.) 78. Preventive detention should be limited to very short periods of time intended solely to facilitate the course of a judicial inquiry.(See the 1996 Digest, para. 87; 323rd Report, Case No. 2028, para. 212; and 333rd Report, Case No. 2153, para. 212.) 79. In all cases in which trade union leaders are preventively detained, this can involve a serious interference with the exercise of trade union rights and the Committee has always emphasized the right of all detained persons to receive a fair trial at the earliest possible moment.(See the 1996 Digest, para. 88.) 80. Preventive detention should be accompanied by safeguards and limitations: (1) to ensure, in particular, that it is not extended beyond the time absolutely necessary and that it is not accompanied by measures of intimidation; (2) to prevent it being used for purposes other than those for which it is designed and, in particular, to exclude torture and ill-treatment and give protection against situations where the detention is unsatisfactory from the viewpoint of sanitation, unnecessary hardship or the right to defence.(See the 1996 Digest, para. 89.) 81. The prolonged detention of persons without bringing them to trial because of the difficulty of securing evidence under the normal procedure is a practice which involves an inherent danger of abuse; for this reason it is subject to criticism.(See the 1996 Digest, para. 90; 310th Report, Case No. 1929, para. 426; and 338th Report, Case No. 2387, para. 864.) 82. Although the exercise of trade union activity or the holding of trade union office does not provide immunity as regards the application of ordinary criminal law, the continued detention of trade unionists without bringing them to trial may constitute a serious impediment to the exercise of trade union rights.(See the 1996 Digest, para. 91; and 338th Report, Case No. 2382, para. 532.) |
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