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Unions, Rights Leaders Vow to Keep Fighting Colombia Trade Deal
by James Parks, Apr 15, 2008
The union movement, members of Congress and human rights leaders vowed
today to keep the pressure on the Colombian government to get serious
about ending the violence against trade unionists and prosecuting
paramilitary death squads. Until that happens, they say they will
continue to fight to defeat the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement
(FTA).
By a 224-195 vote April 10, the House removed the 90-day deadline under
Fast Track trade-promotion authority for an up-or-down vote on the
Colombia FTA. The vote will delay consideration of the deal
indefinitely, probably until after Bush leaves office in January. In
fact, Bush told reporters Monday that the deal is dead unless House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) schedules a vote.
During a Capitol Hill press conference Tuesday afternoon, Colombia FTA
opponents applauded the House's decision and urged Congress to firmly
press Colombia to show meaningful and sustained results in breaking the
pattern of violence and impunity before considering the deal.
At the press conference, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney reiterated the
union movement's opposition to a deal with Colombia:
Until our brothers and sisters can exercise core worker rights without
fear of intimidation, threat or murder, we cannot seriously consider
passing a trade agreement with Colombia. The test of trade should not
be how much profit it generates. Should the Colombia FTA come up for a
vote this year, we will mobilize our members and the resources of the
federation to defeat it.
The violence against trade union members in Colombia has claimed more
than 2,500 lives since 1986, including 39 murdered in 2007 and another
17 killed so far in 2008-a rate of more than one a week. Yet the
Colombian government has obtained convictions in fewer than 3 percent
of the cases and has done little to stop the bloodshed or guarantee
worker and human rights in the country.
Also at the press conference, Rep. Phil Hare (D-Ill.) said talk of
trading a second economic stimulus package or expanding trade
adjustment assistance for the trade agreement won't work.
Let me be clear. We can't let the lives of union members be bargaining
chips for this administration'
Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) described the Colombia FTA as a "moral
issue." The debate over whether to approve the deal is about the lives
of workers, he said, and so he cannot support the agreement as
violence continues against workers.
Human rights leaders also expressed their concerns with the proposed
FTA and vowed to fight it. Jose Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at
Human Rights Watch, said:
The [Colombian President Alvaro] Uribe government has consistently
resisted taking meaningful steps to break paramilitaries' power and
hold them accountable. Until Colombia demonstrates a credible shift in
approach and real sustained results in dismantling the paramilitaries,
trade unionists will remain vulnerable to persecution by these vicious
groups.
Lisa Haugaard, director of the Latin America Working Group, a coalition
of U.S. human rights, humanitarian, policy, faith-based and grassroots
groups, added:
In its zeal to win a trade agreement, our government must not ignore
other grave human rights abuses that continue to take place in
Colombia. Deliberate killings of civilians by the Colombian armed
forces are on the increase. We must see serious investigations,
prosecutions, convictions, and perpetrators in jail for these crimes.
Nicole Lee, executive director of TransAfrica Forum, said the trade
deal would seriously affect the Afro-Colombian community, which makes
up more than one-quarter of the country's population. She says the
Uribe government has passed a "litany of laws" that removed protections
for the country's Afro-Colombians. Violence against the community has
grown, and many Afro-Colombians who live on the prized Pacific coast
have been forcibly displaced. Said Lee:
Afro-Colombian organizations have stated their opposition to the FTA,
but their voices have been stifled, and their communities harassed and
attacked. The FTA will legalize the appropriation of constitutionally
protected collective territories by the government and corporate
interests, furthering displacement, poverty and discrimination faced by
these marginalized communities.
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