No justification and no chance of appeal: the European Court of Human Rights has dismissed a complaint against Switzerland from the widow of murdered Colombian trade unionist and Nestlé worker Luciano Romero. There is no possibility of lodging an appeal against this decision, for which the Court did not give reasons – claimants in the Nestlé/Romero case have now exhausted all legal avenues in Europe. ECCHR submitted the complaint on behalf of Romero’s widow in December 2014 calling on the ECtHR to examine whether the Swiss judiciary adequately investigated Nestlé’s responsibility for Romero’s murder.

The court could have taken this opportunity to clarify how to ensure that victims of human rights violations committed by corporations have access to justice, as provided for in the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. The Swiss judiciary dismissed all claims against Nestlé in the Romero case. In July 2014, the Swiss Federal Supreme Court held that the crimes in question were now statute-barred.

On 10 September 2005, trade unionist, human rights activist and former Nestlé-Cicolac employee Luciano Romero was kidnapped, tortured and murdered by members of a paramilitary group. His murder came after a number of death threats that arose in the context of a long-standing labor dispute between the Colombian trade union Sinaltrainal and the Nestlé factory Cicolac. In March 2012, ECCHR and Sinaltrainal filed a criminal complaint against Nestlé and some of its top managers with the Swiss prosecution authorities in Zug.

The complaint accuses the Nestlé managers of being in breach of their obligations by failing to prevent crimes of the Colombian paramilitary groups and failing to adequately protect trade unionists from these crimes. The prosecution passed the case on to authorities in Vaud which have jurisdiction over the company’s other headquarters in Vevey. Prosecution authorities in Vaud closed the proceedings in May 2013.

The trade union Sinaltrainal had reported the death threats made against Romero and other members to the Nestlé subsidiary in Colombia as well as to the parent company in Switzerland. Instead of taking the necessary precautionary measures, local Nestlé-Cicolac managers spread libelous reports that Luciano Romero and his colleagues were reputed to be members of the guerilla, rumors which put these individuals in even greater danger.

The parent company Nestlé in Switzerland failed to take actions to prevent the threats and defamations. Criminal proceedings were launched in Colombia resulting in the conviction of the direct perpetrators of the murder of Luciano Romero. In his verdict the Colombian judge stated that Nestlé’s role in the crime was of particular relevance and ordered an investigation to look into the matter in more detail. The Colombian prosecution authorities, however, has to date failed to take up the issue.