7 151. In this specific case, Mr. Lagos del Campo had been employed by the aforementioned company as a manual worker for approximately 13 years and, at the time of the facts, he was president of the Electoral Committee of the company’s Industrial Community and the delegate to CONACI. Based on statements made during an interview published in “La Razón” in the context of internal elections, Mr. Lagos del Campo was dismissed for having committed a serious verbal offense against his employer. He contested this decision before the competent organs, but it was ratified in second instance, considering that he had been dismissed for a justified reason. He appealed this decision before various domestic instances, without finding protection, particularly for his right to job security, alleging that the reasons for his dismissal were unjustified or unwarranted and that due process had been violated. That is to say, in light of the arbitrary dismissal by the company (supra, para. 132) the State failed to adopt adequate measures to protect the violation of the right to work by third parties. Thus, Mr. Lagos del Campo was not reinstated in his job and did not receive any compensation or the corresponding benefits. 152. Consequently, Mr. Lagos del Campo lost his job, the possibility of a retirement pension, and also the exercise of his rights as a workers’ representative. This also had an impact on his professional, personal and family life (supra, para. 72). […] 153. Based on the foregoing, the Court concludes that, owing to his arbitrary dismissal, Mr. Lagos del Campo was deprived of his employment and other benefits resulting from social security. Therefore, the Peruvian State failed to protect his right to job security, in interpretation of Article 26 of the American Convention, in relation to Articles 1(1), 13, 8 and 16 of this instrument, to the detriment of Mr. Lagos del Campo.34 16. As mentioned in the judgment: “[…] the Court has established […] that it has jurisdiction to examine and decide disputes relating to Article 26 of the American Convention, as an integral part of the rights named in it and, regarding which, Article 1(1) establishes the general obligations of the States to respect and to ensure rights [in the area of economic, social, cultural and environmental rights]. The Court has also developed important case law on this matter, in light of different articles of the Convention […].” And, it added: 154. […] On this basis, the present judgment develops and substantiates a specific condemnation for the violation of Article 26 of the American Convention on Human Rights, established in Chapter III of this treaty, entitled Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.35 17. This initial analysis has allowed us to observe that the Inter-American Court developed the violation of Article 26 of the American Convention specifically in relation to job security. In this regard – and this is the essence of this opinion – the same analysis could have been made regarding the violation of the right to freedom of association for the protection and promotion of workers’ interests. In this way, the Court could have established the differences with previous case law that related to labor unions. II. THE RIGHT TO FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION IN THE CASE LAW OF THE INTER-AMERICAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS 18. In the Inter-American Court’s case law, the right to “associate freely for labor purpose” has been addressed only in relation to the issue of labor or trade unions; that is, the right to organize and join trade unions. In addition, it is important to point out that even though Article 19(6) of the Additional Protocol to the American Convention in the Area of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (hereinafter “the Protocol of San Salvador”) includes the right to organize and join trade unions (Article 8(1)(a) of the Protocol of San Salvador) as one of the two rights expressly mentioned as enforceable before organs of the inter-American system, the previous case law of the Inter-American Court subsumed this within the content of Article 16 of the American Convention. In this regard, it is illustrative to mention the standards that have been applied to the organization of, and membership in, trade unions derived from the word “labor” in Article 16 of the Pact of San José. 34 Cf. Case of Lagos del Campo v. Peru, supra, paras. 151, 152 and 153. 35 Cf. Case of Lagos del Campo v. Peru, supra, para. 154.