Human Rights Watch open letter on Colombian Free Trade Agreement

[Judi Lynn]

Apparently these mentally handicapped people simply don't have the special mental gifts right-wingers have who want the U.S. right-wing to rule the entire world, at whatever cost necessary to the people living in it (except for them, of course)!

Letter to US Trade Representative Schwab on Colombia Free Trade Agreement

January 23, 2008

Ambassador Susan C. Schwab
United States Trade Representative
600 17th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20508

Dear Ambassador Schwab,

I am writing to explain why Human Rights Watch opposes ratification of the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) at this time and to outline the steps Colombia could take to ease our concerns.

Human Rights Watch does not have a position on free trade agreements per se, except that we believe they should be premised on respect for fundamental human rights, especially the rights of the workers. We have opposed ratification of the FTA because of the Colombian government’s failure thus far to adequately address the high level of violence against local trade unionists and to dismantle the paramilitary organizations responsible for much of that violence. We do not believe the United States should grant permanent duty-free access to goods that are, in many cases, produced by workers unable to exercise their basic right to freedom of association, in large part because of anti-union violence.

As you know, Colombia has the worst record on trade unionist killings in the world. There have been more than 2,500 killings since 1985 and nearly 3,500 threats against trade unionists since 1991, according to the National Labor School (or ENS—Escuela Nacional Sindical), a highly respected labor rights group in Colombia.I During the administration of President Alvaro Uribe, there have been more than 400 killings and 1,358 threats, according to the same source. A principal factor contributing to this violence has been the Colombian government’s persistent failure to bring the perpetrators to justice and to dismantle the drug-running paramilitary mafias to which many belong.

Despite its stated commitment to combating and demobilizing paramilitary groups, President Uribe’s government has not yet made a serious effort to investigate paramilitary crimes, to seize paramilitary assets, to prevent demobilized paramilitary leaders from engaging in unlawful activities, to prosecute their collaborators and financiers, to extradite to the United States paramilitary leaders who renege on their promises, or even to keep track of thousands of paramilitary fighters who supposedly demobilized. The Uribe administration has opposed virtually every reasonable proposal to strengthen this process. To the extent its campaign against paramilitaries has any teeth, it is the result of pressure from a handful of Colombia’s lawmakers, its courts, and its international partners, including the United States. We believe that pressure must be sustained.

More:
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2008/01/25/colomb17876.htm