News

UNI representatives met with the President of the Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games in Rio Janeiro (Rio 2016), Mr. Carlos Nuzman, to discuss human rights abuses by private security company Prosegur in the region.

Rio 2016 is about to tender private security contracts for the Olympic Games in 2016. UNI maintains that the Olympic movement should evaluate the human rights record of companies that tender for contracts at the Games.

Prosegur has various complaints leveled at the company for their behaviour in Brazil, Paraguay, Peru and Colombia. Currently in Peru and Colombia, union leaders have threats against their personal safety, a situation for which Prosegur denies responsibility but does not publically condemn.

The General Secretary of the Prosegur Workers Union Peru suffered an assault in front of his house after Prosegur allowed photographs of his home to be distributed inside company premises. In Colombia, without any proof, company managers have linked trade unionists with “terrorism” and permitted the distribution of anonymous pamphlets on company property with false accusations of fraud against union leaders. Subsequently, the union leaders suffered acts of intimidation against their physical safety.

Rio 2016 has a supply chain guide for companies that tender for contracts at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. UNI is asking that Rio 2016 apply the guide and take into account human rights during the tendering process.

Prosegur is the largest private security company in Brazil with more than 50,000 employees. However, during the recent FIFA World Cup in the country, Prosegur was not chosen to be responsible for any of the event´s 12 stadiums.

The union representatives that met with Mr. Carlos Nuzman were Jose Antonio Martins Fernandes President of the Union of Physical Education Professionals of São Paulo and member of the Brazilian Athletics Confederation, Marcos Afonso de Oliveira of the union centre UGT Brazil, Claudio José de Oliveira, Adriano Linhares da Silva of the National Confederation of Security Workers Brazil, and Benjamin Parton Director for UNI Americas.