| | |
|
| |
|
|
Honduras DR-CAFTA Falls Short on Workers’ Rights By Carol Pier (*) The U.S. House of Representatives will likely vote before the end of this week on the U.S.-Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA). The House should reject the accord for falling short on workers' human rights because it does not require countries to protect women workers from discrimination or to have laws that meet international labor standards. July 27, 2005 Commentary Printer friendly version The United States-Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement Falls Short on Workers' Rights Written Testimony Submitted to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Ways and Means Human Rights Watch welcomes the opportunity to testify regarding workers’ human rights under the proposed United States-Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (D.R.-CAFTA). Human Rights Watch takes no position on free trade per se, but we take an active interest in workers’ human rights. We believe that trade agreements can provide leverage to promote workers’ rights, but only when meaningful, enforceable labor rights protections are built into the fabric of the accords. Unfortunately, D.R.-CAFTA does not contain such protections. April 21, 2005 Testimony Printer friendly version The Lesson of Honduras By Daniel Wilkinson, Counsel, Americas Division, Human Rights Watch When John D. Negroponte goes before the Senate Intelligence Committee today for hearings on his nomination to be the first Director of National Intelligence, he should face rigorous questioning regarding his experience as ambassador to Honduras in the 1980s. These questions are needed, not to relive past policy debates, but rather to determine how ready he is to handle one of the most pressing challenges he’ll confront as national intelligence director. April 11, 2005 Commentary Printer friendly version CAFTA's Weak Labor Rights Protections: Why the Present Accord Should be Opposed A Human Rights Watch Briefing Paper, March 2004 On February 20, 2004, President George W. Bush notified Congress of his intent to sign the U.S.-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA)-an accord that the United States recently negotiated with Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. According to U.S. law, the president must wait ninety days from the date of notification before signing the agreement and can send it to Congress for a vote any time thereafter. March 10, 2004 Background Briefing Also available in 
Printer friendly version Labor Rights Protections in CAFTA In January 2003, U.S.-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) negotiations began among the United States, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. The final negotiating round is scheduled for early December 2003. CAFTA presents an important opportunity to raise labor standards throughout Central America. Free trade alone, however, cannot guarantee greater respect for workers’ rights. Instead, meaningful protections for workers’ human rights should be built into CAFTA. October 14, 2003 Background Briefing Printer friendly version The Right Way to Trade This week the United States and Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua have been conducting the sixth of nine negotiating rounds for a U.S.-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). The United States has already proposed labor rights provisions for CAFTA similar to those in the U.S free trade agreements with Chile and Singapore. But those are the wrong models. August 1, 2003 Commentary The Right Way to Trade By Carol Pier, Expert for Labor Rights and Trade Issues at Human Rights Watch Published in The Washington Post The Bush administration is quietly carrying on a major new trade negotiation with Central America that could show -- contrary to the notion that globalization hurts workers -- how international trade deals can increase respect for labor rights. But the Bush team must get the right formula into its briefing books. August 1, 2003 Commentary Printer friendly version Letter to Colin Powell on U.S. Bully Tactics Against International Criminal Court I am writing to convey our strong dismay over recent U.S. government actions towards the International Criminal Court (ICC). June 30, 2003 Letter Honduras: Child Soldiers Global Report 2001 From the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers Article 276 of the 1982 Constitution was amended by Decree No.24-94, ratified by Congress in 1995, establishing voluntary military service from the age of 18 during peacetime and calling for the 1985 Military Service Act and corresponding regulations to be redrafted. In its periodic report to the Committee on the Rights of the Child, the Government asserted that "military service is now voluntary and educational" and that "there is no compulsory conscription." The government also reported that "for incorporation into the armed forces the minimum age is 18 years." However, the 1985 Military Service Act has not yet been redrafted, nor has new legislation been passed since 1994. Although forced recruitment was the norm in the 1980s and early 1990s, there have been no reported cases since 1994. There is no evidence of underage recruitment. June 12, 2001 Multi Country Report Honduras: Landmine Monitor Report 2000 Honduras signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997 and ratified on 24 September 1998. Honduras has not yet passed domestic implementation legislation. Honduras submitted its first Article 7 report on 30 August 1999 in Spanish, covering the period from 1998 to 1999. Honduras voted in favor of UN General Assembly Resolution 54/54B in support of the Mine Ban Treaty in December 1999, as it had on similar resolutions in 1997 and 1998. It has also supported the pro-ban resolutions of the Organization of American States (OAS). It was one of nine countries that signed the "Declaration of San José" in Costa Rica on 5 April 2000, which includes an article promoting the Mine Ban Treaty. August 1, 2000 Multi Country Report The Facts Speak for Themselves: The Preliminary Report on Disappearances of the National Commissioner for the Protection of Human Rights in Honduras Battalion 3-16, a clandestine military death squad originally trained and equipped by the CIA, is synonymous with torture, murder and disappearance in Honduras. The nightmare began in August 1980, when twenty-five Honduran army officers were flown to a desert air strip in the southwestern U.S. to spend six months learning interrogation techniques. After this and subsequent training sessions in Honduras, a repressive pattern emerged: once suspected guerrillas targeted for surveillance were captured by disguised Battalion 3-16 agents using unmarked vehicles, they were interrogated and tortured in hidden jails, summarily executed, and their bodies dumped in unmarked graves. The Honduran and U.S. governments routinely denied that death squads existed in Honduras. In this pathbreaking report translated into English by HRW/Americas and the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL), the Honduran government for the first time accepts responsibility for a systematic pattern of disappearances, many of them carried out by Battalion 3-16. This report is a major accomplishment in the hemisphere-wide struggle to establish truth and justice for serious human rights violations. In publishing it in English, HRW and CEJIL seek to spur a truth-telling process in the U.S. that would complement and reinforce that underway in Honduras. The human rights organizations invite the U.S. government to release all relevant documents concerning disappearances in the 1980s and to implement steps to ensure that U.S. aid — whether covert or overt — is never again used for torture, summary executions, or other criminal acts. July 1, 1994 Report
|
 
| |||||||||||||
|
Contribute to Human Rights Watch
Home | About Us | News Releases | Publications | About HRW | Info by Country | Global Issues | Campaigns | Free Mailing Lists | Community | Bookstore | Film Festival | Search | Site Map | Contact Us | Press Contacts | Privacy Policy © Copyright 2006, Human Rights Watch 350 Fifth Avenue, 34th Floor New York, NY 10118-3299 USA |
