Human Rights in Colombia

The Harper government’s decision to prorogue – or end - this session of Parliament ahead of its normal timetable ends all government business. MP committee activity ceases, including the committee that was examining the controversy around Afghan detainees AND the International Trade Committee to which we recently provided testimony about Colombia. 

Prorogation also puts an end to all bills introduced by the government that have not received Royal Assent prior to prorogation. This affects Bill C-23 that would have implemented the Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement. During the next session of Parliament set to begin in March, the government will have to reintroduce the bill and have it go through all of the legislative stages, although it may seek cooperation from opposition parties to move the legislation forward quickly and avoid holding again dozens of hours of hearings and debates.

The government remains determined to pass this legislation. So at one point or another in 2010, MPs will likely be called to vote on Bill C-23. Amidst clear evidence of a grave human rights and humanitarian crisis in Colombia, Amnesty International opposes Bill C-23 going forward without an independent human rights impact assessment.

With MPs now back in their riding, we urge you to contact your MP to express your concerns and request support for an independent human rights impact study that considers the effect the trade agreement will have on human rights -- particularly on vulnerable sectors of the population like women, subsistence farmers, trade unionists, Indigenous peoples and Afro-descendent communities. This is very important since MPs are swayed by the determination of people living in their ridings to show this issue will determine their vote in a future election.

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Government officials in both Colombia and Canada claim that the situation for trade unionists in Colombia has improved AND that paramilitaries have been successfully demobilized. Yet ongoing events contradict those claims.

On 22 October, a fax signed by the paramilitary group Black Eagles New Generation arrived at the Valle del Cauca office of the Trade Union Congress (known by its acronym CUT). It warned that members of the CUT in Valle del Cauca have become military targets. The threat stated: "it is necessary to expand the fight against those who hide in social organisations such as CUT Valle, NOMADESC, human rights defenders, NGOs." It also accused CUT members of stopping economic development in the region of Cauca: "These bureaucrats don't let CAUCA progress, as they don't allow entry for the multinationals, which bring benefits to the communities."

This latest case is all the more reason why an independent human rights impact assessment is urgently needed before proceeding to implement the Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement.

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Three Indigenous leaders in Risaralda received the same text message on their mobile phones on 5 October. It warned them to leave the area within five days or their families would be killed. 

The threat came a few days after the Risaralda Indigenous Regional Council (CRIR) launched a report about human rights abuses, and attempts to drive them out of their lands by powerful people looking to exploit the area's significant mineral resources.

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IN THE PHOTO: AI activists in New Brunswick sent this photograph of their support to threatened members of the Wayuú Indigenous women's organization Fuerza de Mujeres Wayuú in Colombia. [Credit: AI Hampton Group]

Ever doubt whether your efforts make a difference? We recently received positive feedback from the Wayuú Women’s Organization Fuerza de Mujeres Wayuú in Colombia on whose behalf some members of AI Canada took action around International Women’s Day on 8 March. This is what the women wrote:

“We want to express our deep and heartfelt gratitude to Amnesty International for the solidarity shown on International Women’s Day in Canada where letters were sent to the Minister for Foreign Affairs expressing concern for our cause and also to the people who wrote to us making us feel your support – which means so much more to us than mere words. This support fills us with courage and helps lift the sensation that we are alone in our struggle to defend and promote the rights of Indigenous Peoples in Colombia and the Wayuú people in particular.”

This feedback makes it very clear that the combination of letters to government officials together with messages of solidarity are enormously important.

PHOTO AT RIGHT: A mother and child who are among the more than 3 million people who have had to flee their homes in Colombia. Credit: Amnesty International 

Amnesty International has denounced yet another dramatic increase in the number of Colombians forced to leave their homes because of the armed conflict. As many as 380,000 people were forced to flee their homes in 2008 alone -- an increase of more than 24 percent from 2007. It is a disturbingly little known fact that there are now between 3 and 4 million internally displaced people in Colombia -- the equivalent to the whole population of Uruguay -- making it one of the countries with the world's largest displaced populations. At least a further 500,000 are believed to have fled to other countries.

Press release | Web article | Take action

Want to ensure that Canada's trade policy with Colombia will not directly or indirectly contribute to the human rights crisis in that country? Then add your face to our photo petition. It calls for a human rights impact assessment of the Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA). By collecting photos, instead of signatures like a regular petition, we're hoping to make visible that people from different communities and all walks of life are concerned about the human rights situation in Colombia and want a third party human rights study to make sure the FTA doesn't make the situation worse.

Hundreds of Canadians, like teacher Cheryl Krueger in Edmonton (pictured above), have already sent us their photos. We hope to collect many more to present to the Canadian government and to Opposition leaders, who will ultimately be called to vote for or against implementing legislation. It's important to remember that Parliament's Committee on International Trade recommended not to proceed without an independent human rights impact study, a recommendation the government has so far chosen to ignore.

Please help us press politicians to do the right thing by putting the FTA to the test with a human rights impact assessment. Take a photo of yourself, like the one above, against a neutral background, holding a sign with your name, location and occupation written in large dark letters. Take photos of your friends, family and colleagues too. If you have any questions, contact our campaigner Sarah Beamish at kaaotera@gmail.com. Please send your photos in as soon as possible. Thank you!

Background information

IN THE PHOTO: Boys from Afro-descendent communities of Curvaradó and Jiguamiandó. These communities continue to be threatened and attacked amidst an ongoing struggle to defend community land rights against incursions by plantations of African palm, a biofuel. Photo credit: Jorge Mata/SURIMAGES IPA 

Colombia's President Uribe and Prime Minister Stephen Harper will join other government leaders from April 17 to 19 for the Fifth Summit of the Americas. On the agenda are proposals to promote prosperity and energy security amidst the global economic crisis.

At the end of March, Amnesty warned that the Summit's Draft Declaration falls short on human rights and issued a series of recommendations for urgently needed action. These recommendations are particularly crucial in Colombia, where communities in areas of economic interest continue to be attacked in order to force them to flee and clear the way for large scale economic development.

Now we need your help. Add your name to our on-line petition, demanding concrete steps to put human rights first. Sign the petition and encourage others to do so too. Millions of lives are at stake, in Colombia and across the Americas.

Take Action: Sign the Petition | Media release: Summit of the Americas Draft declaration falls short on human rights

Amnesty International was deeply dismayed by the news on March 26 that International Trade Minister Stockwell Day had announced the introduction of implementing legislation for the Canada Colombia Free Trade Agreement.

Two days earlier, AI Canada's Secretary General Alex Neve and I met with the chief negotiators of the FTA and its labour side agreement to reiterate our call for an independent human rights impact assessment in light of grave, ongoing violations of human rights in areas of economic interest and against trade unionists. Parliament's Standing Committee on International Trade made the same recommendation last year. Yet the Canadian Government has so far opted to proceed without the due diligence we believe is needed, given the human rights record of Colombia.

Our Open Letter to Stockwell Day | Take action

PHOTO: The High Advisor of the National Indigenous Organization of Colombia, Luis Evelis Andrade, denounces the killing of 27 Awá Indigenous people at a press conference in Bogotá. Photo credit:  Mauricio Duenas/AFP/Getty Images

In a statement issued on February 13, Amnesty International condemned the killing of 27 Awá people in the department of Nariño, and expressed serious concern at reports that members of the Awá in the department have subsequently begun to flee their homes.

According to the National Indigenous Organization of Colombia, on 11 February the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrilla group killed 10 Awá in the department. This followed the killing of 17 Awá on 4 February, also in Nariño, and also reportedly carried out by the FARC. There are also reports that an unknown number of Awá have been abducted.

If verified, these killings represent yet another tragic example of the numerous serious violations of international humanitarian law and human rights abuses committed against Indigenous communities by all the parties to Colombia's long-running armed conflict, including guerrilla groups, paramilitaries and the security forces. The deliberate killing of civilians is a war crime.

Amnesty International called on the Colombian authorities to initiate an immediate and thorough investigation into the killings, and to bring those responsible to justice, as well as guarantee the safety of the humanitarian commission which is seeking to travel to the area to verify the facts.

At the same time, Amnesty called on the guerrilla to prohibit the deliberate killing of civilians and to free all Awá and other civilians they hold captive.

Photo credit: Prime Minister Stephen Harper and President Alvaro Uribe at a press conference in Bogotá in July 2007 when free trade negotiations were officially launched. Alejandra Vega/AFP/Getty Images

On November 21, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and President Alvaro Uribe announced the signing of the Canada-Colombia free trade agreement.

Earlier this year, after conducting a human rights study, the House of Commons Standing Committee on International Trade called on the Canadian government to ensure that an independent human rights impact assessment be carried out and the results dealt with adequately before signing, ratifying or implementing a free trade deal with Colombia.

Amnesty International Canada is deeply concerned that the government of Stephen Harper chose to ignore this recommendation. As we stressed in a joint public statement with the Canadian Council for International Cooperation, the free trade agreement has been signed without regard for the widespread and very serious human rights violations that continue to be the daily reality in Colombia.

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