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I am honored to appear before you today. Thank you for your invitation to address the situation of violence against trade unionists in Colombia and the Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement that is now under negotiation. I would like to request that my written remarks be incorporated in the record.

I am the Senior Americas Researcher who covers Colombia for Human Rights Watch, the largest international human rights organization based in the United States. Human Rights Watch conducts investigations into human rights abuses all over the world and has offices in Washington, D.C., New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, London, Berlin, Geneva, Brussels, Hong Kong, Moscow, and Paris. We also have a Human Rights Watch office in Toronto which has been very active in raising awareness of human rights issues in this country for the last 4 years. Human Rights Watch is an independent, nongovernmental organization, supported by contributions from private individuals and foundations worldwide. It accepts no government funds, directly or indirectly.

Human Rights Watch has been monitoring the human rights situation in Colombia for nearly two decades. Through our reports we have repeatedly documented the abuses that are regularly committed by left-wing guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (the “FARC”) and the National Liberation Army (the “ELN”), right-wing paramilitary death squads, and government forces in Colombia.

Human Rights Watch does not have a position on free trade agreements per se, with one exception: we believe that any free trade agreement should be premised on respect for fundamental human rights, especially the rights of the workers producing the goods to be traded. And if you agree with this basic point, then you must agree that at this time Canada should not enter into a free trade agreement with Colombia.

We have heard it said a number of times—by Prime Minister Harper and by groups like FOCAL—that the FTA should not be used to address all of Colombia’s HR problems. But such statements essentially set up a straw man. It is true that Colombia does have the worst human rights and humanitarian situation in the region, with many serious problems, including massive internal displacement, killings, and enforced disappearances.

But the key issue that Human Rights Watch has raised in connection with the free trade agreement, and what should be the focus of the discussion, is a very specific problem: the extremely high rate of violence against trade unionists in Colombia, and the failure of the government to hold accountable those responsible for that violence and dismantle the paramilitary groups to which many of the killers belong. This is an issue that is directly related to free trade. Canada should not grant permanent duty-free access to goods that are, in many cases, produced by workers who cannot exercise their rights without fear of being killed.

For years, Colombia has led the world in trade unionist assassinations. Approximately 2,550 unionists have been murdered in Colombia from 1986 to the present; more than 400 of them have been killed during the government of current President Alvaro Uribe. Though the number of killings has dropped from its peak in the 1990s, 39 trade unionists were killed in 2007. And killings are increasing substantially in 2008, with 24 killings and 4 disappearances through mid-April, according to the National Labor School, the main nongovernmental organization in Colombia documenting violence against trade unionists. According to the government’s statistics, which are slightly different, 22 trade unionists have been killed through April of this year, representing a 50% increase in killings of unionized teachers, and a 400% increase in killings of trade unionists from other sectors (i.e., not teachers).

A principal factor contributing to the ongoing violence against trade unionists has been the Colombian government’s persistent failure to bring the killers to justice.

Despite the thousands of reported unionist killings in the last two decades, in only 78 cases has anyone ever been convicted in connection with the killings. Nearly one third of those convicted have served no prison time.

Throughout most of the government of current President Alvaro Uribe, the rate of convictions for unionist killings has been consistently low, all the way through 2006: there were 9 convictions in 2003, 11 in 2004, 9 in 2005 and 11 in 2006.

In 2007, the number of convictions jumped to 43. This sudden increase is due to pressure from the United States Congress in connection with the US-Colombia Free Trade Agreement, which led to the establishment of a specialized sub-unit of prosecutors in the Colombian Attorney General’s office to accelerate investigations of assassinations of trade unionists, a positive development. The increase in convictions is a sign that when the government wants to produce results, it can. But once the pressure is lifted, the administration of President Álvaro Uribe will lose its main motivation for supporting the investigations.

Indeed, what the Colombian government often fails to mention in discussing violence against unionists is that many of the killings are committed by right-wing paramilitary death squads, which openly admit to deliberately targeting unionists, whom they stigmatize as collaborators of left-wing guerrillas. The New York Times recently described how a unionist was forcibly “disappeared,” burned with acid, and killed after he participated in protests against paramilitary violence in March of this year.

The paramilitaries have typically worked closely with important sectors of the military and intelligence systems. And today, the paramilitaries enjoy tremendous influence in the political system. More than 50 members of Uribe’s coalition in Congress—including his cousin and closest political ally, Senator Mario Uribe—are now under criminal investigation for collaborating with paramilitaries.

One case of particular importance involves Jorge Noguera, President Uribe’s former campaign manager in Magdalena, and later National Intelligence Director from 2002 to 2005. Mr. Noguera is under investigation for allegedly collaborating with paramilitaries, including by allegedly providing paramilitaries with the names of trade unionists, some of whom were later killed or threatened. The evidence against Mr. Noguera is serious enough that the United States has revoked his visa.

These investigations are the result of an initiative by the Colombian Supreme Court - not the Uribe Administration. While Uribe has funded the court, he has often taken steps that could undermine the investigations, lashing out against Supreme Court Justices and even, at one point, floating a proposal to let the politicians avoid prison.

Recently, President Uribe ordered the extradition of nearly all the top paramilitary leadership to the United States to face drug charges. That these criminal bosses will finally face real justice for some of their crimes is a positive development, and the extradition of these commanders means that they will no longer be able to manage their nefarious organizations or continue ordering criminal acts. At the same time, while we have long called for the extradition of these men, we do have concerns about the Colombian government’s motivations in doing so at this precise moment. The decision to extradite came only after some of these commanders had actually started to cooperate, and others announced plans to do so, by beginning to talk to Colombian investigators about their links with Colombian military and government officials, including generals and politicians close to the president. The view that the extradition could potentially have a negative impact on the investigations underway in Colombia is shared by many of the leading authorities on the country’s “demobilization” process, including Colombia’s Inspector General, the President of the country’s National Commission on Reparations and Reconciliation, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

Meanwhile, it is likely that the paramilitaries’ complex and powerful organizations will continue operating and engaging in violence under new leadership. Uribe administration officials often dismiss concerns about paramilitary violence by simply claiming that the paramilitaries are now “extinct” thanks to the government’s demobilization program. But nearly all the 30,000 persons who supposedly “demobilized” are free and have never been investigated. And dozens of “new” groups closely linked to the paramilitaries are operating all over the country, engaging in extortion, killings, forced displacement, and drug trafficking - just like their predecessors. Eight foreign embassies in Bogota, the Organization of American States’ mission verifying the demobilization, and dozens of human rights defenders have reported receiving threats from the new groups in recent months.

Human Rights Watch has interviewed many victims of these new groups. To those who have seen their sons or sisters horrifically tortured and murdered, the government’s talk of paramilitary demobilization is a cruel joke.

As I previously noted, any free trade agreement should be based on respect for fundamental human rights, particularly the rights of the workers producing the goods to be traded. Colombia still does not meet that standard due to the high levels of violence against trade unionists, the near-total impunity for that violence, and the government’s failure to fully dismantle the paramilitary groups that are primarily responsible for that violence.

By delaying consideration of the deal, Canada would be creating valuable leverage that can be used to finally get Colombia’s government to seriously address anti-union violence and impunity in a sustained manner. Specifically, Canada should require, among other steps, that the Colombian government obtain a substantial number of well-grounded convictions of perpetrators of violence against trade unionists; hold accountable paramilitaries’ accomplices in the political system and military, their financial backers, and the mid-level commanders who may continue running their organizations and threatening trade unionists; identify and seize assets that paramilitaries hold through front men or third parties (instead of targeting only directly-held assets) and return them to their rightful owners; and put in place effective measures to protect victims and witnesses against paramilitaries and their accomplices. (One important witness against politicians linked to paramilitaries was reportedly killed in the last couple of weeks.)

This opportunity would be squandered were the FTA to be approved prematurely, at a time when the Colombian government’s commitment to break the power of paramilitary death squads and protect workers’ rights remains ambiguous. Approving the agreement today would diminish pressure on the Uribe government to take steps that are clearly needed, but that it has resisted in the past.

If Canada were to enter into a free trade agreement with Colombia at this time, many Colombians and international observers would understandably believe that Canada does not care about human rights, as it is apparently willing to ignore of the plight of its workers and the influence of its murderous paramilitaries.
Canada has historically been considered one of the most important international leaders in the promotion of human rights in Colombia. I urge you to maintain that reputation by refusing to consider the trade deal with Colombia at this time.

Thank you very much.

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