Human rights rhetoric contradicted by rush for Colombia trade pact
Despite death squads, Harper government set to endorse Uribe government
with deal
The Harper Index
http://www.harperindex.ca/ViewArticle.cfm?Ref=00117
November 22, 2007
OTTAWA A parliamentary showdown is coming over a
proposed trade deal with Colombia. Next week the opposition parties plan to
introduce a resolution to the parliamentary committee on international trade
calling for a halt to trade negotiations unless human rights issues are
addressed.
Meanwhile, the Harper government is moving rapidly to tie up
the details of a deal that could come as soon as Monday, November 26, the
date of a negotiating session in Lima Peru.
"Stephen Harper says trade must not trump human rights for
China, but he's rewarding the worst human rights offender in the Americas,"
according to Hassan Yussuff, Secretary Treasurer of the Canadian Labour
Congress. The Congress is coordinating rallies across Canada against the
proposed deal because, they say, it condones the violent repression of
dissenters and because almost all the thousands murders of trade unionists
there have gone unpunished.
Harper and trade minister David Emerson, however, have
ignored the protests of human rights organizations, the labour movement and
opposition parties in pushing forward with the deal. "We're calling on the
government to halt negotiations and look at a human rights framework for any
discussions around trade agreements," said NDP trade critic Peter Julian in
a telephone interview. "Human rights have to be front and centre in any
trade agreements," as he says, has been the practice among Europeans
nations.
Julian says there are indications the Harper government
wants to move forward fairly quickly, as does the Colombian government. For
the Colombians, "these are seen as endorsements. With David Emerson, it's
the photo op that counts." He says Emerson pushed through the "softwood
sell-out" trade deal with the US despite advice against it. "For him, the
act of signing something is the important thing. He gets a photo opportunity
out of it."
In July Harper visited Colombia and scoffed at the
suggestion Canada should withhold support for a trade deal due to human
rights abuses. "We're not going to say, fix all your social, political and
human-rights problems, and only then will we engage in trade relations with
you," said Harper, at the time. That's a ridiculous position."
Julian calls the proposed deal "a major endorsement of a
government that is associated with gross human rights abuses," and says that
those who speak out there fear for their lives. This week he met with Bishop
Juan Alberto Cardona, leader of the Methodist Church of Colombia, who made
it clear he feels his life is endangered by speaking out for human rights.
"If Canada were to assess the real impact of a trade deal on
the lives of Colombians, I believe it would change its mind on the
advisability of continuing negotiations," the bishop said in a news release
issued by the Canadian Council for International Co-operation.
Since the US rejected a similar deal with Colombia on
account of human rights concerns, the bishop said "...naturally, the
government is desperate for a deal with Canada. It's like a stamp of
approval. But we say stop the killing of innocent Colombians, disarm the
paramilitaries, and protect human rights before any deals are made."
Illegal executions of civilians by the Colombian military
and paramilitary forces took 955 lives in the past five years, according to
the release. "Most affected are indigenous peoples, Afro-Colombians, trade
unionists, human rights activists, journalists and opposition politicians.
Real justice for those responsible is almost unheard of."
This year, 27 trade unionists have been killed, two of them
earlier this month. During the administration of the current president,
Alvaro Uribe Velaz, 560 union officers and members have been murdered. Trade
union organizers are hunted down because unions are considered to be
subversive, and organized workers make demands for better working
conditions.
Julian is particularly concerned about the closed-door
nature of negotiations. As the Colombian Action Network in Response to Free
Trade put it on the website of Common Frontiers, "...it is not so surprising
that these governments of ours are restricting citizen participation in
these negotiations. If the word got out about horrifying implications of
signing such a deal, people wouldn't support it. The Canadian government has
gone so far as to ask Colombian negotiators not to share the labour texts
with Canadian unions and non-governmental organizations..."
By contrast, when trade deals are negotiated in Europe,
there is extensive consultation with the parliaments and citizens of the
nations involved, according to Julian.
Another voice against a trade deal with Colombia is Liliana
Uribe [no relation to the President], a Colombian human rights lawyer who
visited Canada in October. In the past she has had to flee Colombia to
escape death threats, and she is constantly at risk. She is urging Canada
not to allow its trade interests to overshadow its human rights concerns
about the growing number of illegal killings of civilians by Colombian
security forces, and the continuing impunity of most of the perpetrators.
According to The Lawyers Weekly, while in Ottawa she told Mps that Prime
Minister Stephen Harper hurt the cause of human rights when he publicly
congratulated the Colombian government for its paramilitary demobilization
efforts during his official visit last July to launch free trade
negotiations.
She told the publication "It's a very dangerous message. To
say that: 'You have made advances' is essentially to say 'I am supporting
you, even though your armed forces are killing civilians,... even though you
have paramilitaries who continue to act, and who continue to be
infiltrating... the Congress and the government. The sad reality is that the
Canadian government at the moment is supporting a government in Colombia
that is in fact implementing policies that are violating human rights. The
Canadian government is supporting a demobilization process of paramilitaries
in Colombia that is not real... because paramilitaries continue to have
political, military and economic control in Colombia."
She says that judges and human rights lawyers have been
shot, while government prosecutors who dared to investigate paramilitary
abuses have had to flee to other countries, including Canada. Advocates like
her work under "a permanent environment of intimidation - it’s absolutely
continuous. Our phones in the home and in the office, our cell phones, are
intercepted. We know that we are followed. And there are unknown people who
are always watching our office."
A prominent supporter of the deal is George W. Bush, who has
used Harper's proposed trade deal to justify a similar Amercian initiative.
"As Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada put it," Mr. Bush told the
Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce in October, "If the United States turns
its back on its friends in Colombia, this will set back our cause far more
than any Latin American dictator could hope to achieve. By its bold actions,
Colombia has proved itself worthy of America's support-and I urge Congress
to pass this vital agreement as soon as possible."
To inoculate itself against criticism, earlier this month
federal labour minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn announced $1 million being
given to Colombia under the International Program for Professional Labour
Administration (IPPLA). "This funding will help the Colombian Government to
strengthen and enforce labour laws on behalf of workers here, and will
support good governance by building capacity for the effective
administration of labour legislation," Blackburn said. In spite of
Blackburn's efforts, Canadian and Colombian unions remain firmly opposed to
this agreement.
