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Human Rights Watch Confirms Colombia Not Ready for Trade Deal with U.S. |
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Despite the Bush administration’s repeated attempts to push through Congress a U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) this year, the reality is that Colombia has not stemmed the violence against trade unionists or brought those responsible to justice.
In short, Colombia has a long way to go before a free trade pact should be considered.
The head of Human Rights Watch recently wrote three top House leaders urging them to remain steadfast in insisting that Colombia clean up its act before approving any new trade deal. In the letter, Human Rights Watch Executive Director Kenneth Roth says:
Free trade should be premised on fundamental respect for human rights, especially the rights of the workers producing the goods to be traded. In Colombia, workers cannot exercise their rights without fear of being threatened or killed.
Without concrete and sustained results in addressing this basic problem, ongoing anti-union violence and impunity would, as President-elect Barack Obama has noted, make a “mockery” of labor protections in the agreement. We believe that Colombia should be in compliance with such protections before the accord takes effect, as has generally been demanded with FTA commercial provisions.
Roth points out that U.S. pressure related to the free trade deal has forced the Colombian government to take some positive steps on impunity for anti-union violence. But he says even those steps are limited and incomplete. In other areas, such as the rate of violence, Colombia has been sliding back this year.
New data support Roth’s conclusions. The International Trade Union Confederation’s (ITUC’s) Annual Survey of Violations of Trade Union Rights again ranked Colombia as the most dangerous country for trade union members. A total of 39 union members were killed there in 2007. While there was a slight reduction in killings in Colombia compared with the previous year, ITUC says many attempts to kill Colombian unionists failed, and there was a notable increase in forced removals, arbitrary arrests, illegal raids and threats, especially in agriculture, health and education.
In April, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi stripped the Fast Track timetable from the U.S.-Colombia FTA indefinitely, delaying a vote. But Bush, the Colombian government and the business lobby continue to press hard for a vote.
Roth adds:
Colombia still has a lot of work to do before the FTA should be considered. By continuing to delay the deal’s approval, the United States will show that human rights are not just words, but rather basic values that have real consequences for U.S. policy.
Roth’s letter was addressed to Pelosi, House Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) and Education and Labor Chairman George Miller (D-Calif.).
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Colombia has been backsliding in many areas. Already in 2008 more union members have been murdered than in 2007. Many reports are showing huge increases in the paramilitary that has been linked to the government on several levels and is said to be responsible for more than 70% of union member deaths. A United Nations reports shows that Colombian military troops that have been receiving American aid money have been murdering innocent civilians. The main factor is that corruption in the country seems to be increasing and not being addressed. It is that corruption that makes even the best labor laws written into the FTA from being enforced. There is no doubt that Colombia must do more including a massive cleanup on all levels of the persistent unabated corruption that constantly favors the rich and elite at the expense of the people, especially the labor force.