[CTC] President Obama's Green Light to FTA is a Red Flag for Afro-Colombians

[Gimena Sanchez]

See USW President Leo Gerard's article below, and recent letters from  
SEIU, the AFL-CIO and Congressional leaders attached.

Arthur Stamoulis
Citizens Trade Campaign
(202) 494-8826



http://blogs.alternet.org/speakeasy/2012/04/12/u-s-cannot-certify-a-country-that-tolerates-murder/

Posted by Leo Gerard at 5:30 am
April 12, 2012

U.S. Cannot Certify a Country that Tolerates Murder
The slaying of one Florida teenager, Trayvon Martin, roiled anger and  
outrage in this country among citizens who believe the killing was  
unjust and unwarranted. Similarly, the torture and killing of one  
labor organizer in Bangladesh last week provoked an outcry there and a  
half-page story in the New York Times.

Americans don’t countenance murder, particularly when it’s racially or  
politically motivated. Americans are justice-seeking and fair-play- 
believing. And that is why we, as a country, cannot certify that  
Colombia has fulfilled its obligations under the Labor Action Plan.  
Certification is a step necessary before the free trade agreement  
between Colombia and the United States can take effect.

Colombia eagerly anticipates that happening this weekend during the  
Summit of the Americas to be held in Cartagena, Colombia. For us to do  
so would be to turn our backs on the 30 trade unionists slain in  
Colombia last year and the six that Justice for Colombia reports have  
been murdered already this year.

The Labor Action Plan that was attached to the free trade agreement  
when the United States approved it a year ago was intended to pressure  
Colombia to stop the killing and torture and to prosecute the  
perpetrators. The routine slaughter of human rights activists and  
trade unionists in Colombia is a quarter century old. It didn’t end in  
a year’s time. And for us to certify that it did would be to betray  
the victims and their families.

Over the past quarter century, paramilitary groups and even the  
Colombian military have killed 3,000 unionists, making this South  
American country the most dangerous in the world for union activists.  
The killing continued because there were no consequences. The  
Colombian government overlooked these murders. The United Nations  
recently reported that the killers are successfully prosecuted in only  
5 percent of cases. That means in 95 percent of the killings, the  
murderers walk free. Most are never even charged.

As a result, for the past 12 years, the Inter-American Commission on  
Human Rights, a body of the Organization of American States (OAS) has  
placed Colombia on a human rights black list. Earlier this week, in  
its annual report, the group singled out Colombia because of the  
violence perpetrated by armed groups, including the military and  
paramilitary death squads aligned with the Colombian state. The report  
says these armed groups victimized:

“persons historically discriminated or that have been subjected to  
vulnerable situations, such as women, human rights defenders and  
children.”

In addition to the union activists slain last year, a record 49 human  
rights defenders were killed. And the United Nations recently reported  
that more than 250,000 Colombian children and teachers have been  
violently displaced over the past several years.

This week, five members of Congress wrote the Colombian labor minister  
to ask specific questions about the progress the country has made in  
meeting its obligations under the Labor Action Plan.

The group – U.S. Reps. George Miller, D-Calif.; Michael H. Michaud, D- 
Maine; Rosa L. DeLauro, D-Conn.; James P. McGovern, D-Mass., and Henry  
C. “Hank” Johnson, D-Ga. – asked about specific abuses and progress in  
prosecutions.

For example, the letter says 450 workers in Turbo tried to form a  
labor union but at least 70 workers in the banana and plantain sector  
were fired. It asks if the government has investigated whether this  
violated the terms of the agreement.

Similarly, the letter says a Union Sindical Obrero (USO) strike at  
Pacific Rubiales Energy was broken “after the labor encampment was  
raided, and armed government forces assisted the company in blockading  
roads.” It adds that more than 1,000 workers affiliated with the USO  
were fired and “many were reportedly driven out of the labor camps at  
gunpoint.”

And, finally, the letter points out that under the terms of the Labor  
Action Plan, Colombia was to increase the number of officers  
investigating murders of trade unionists and the number of  
prosecutors, then states:

“Yet, there appears to be little in the way of progress in these  
cases, and trade unionists continue to be threatened and murdered.”

And it asks the crucial question:

“How many union murder convictions have there been since this time  
last year?”

The question of whether Trayvon Martin’s killer would be prosecuted  
was the subject of countless talk shows here in the United States, of  
innumerable water cooler discussions and of untold numbers of family  
discussions.

That’s just one tragic killing. In Colombia, the unprosecuted backlog  
is hundreds. In Colombia, unionists and human rights activists remain  
at risk. In Colombia, paramilitary groups continue to murder activists  
at unconscionable rates, rates that would be front page news every day  
in the United States.

We cannot certify as compliant with the Labor Action Plan a  
blacklisted country that continues to countenance murder. That would  
violate everything good and moral that we stand for as a people.

***

Leo W. Gerard also is a member of the AFL-CIO Executive Committee and  
chairs the labor federation’s Public Policy Committee. President  
Barack Obama appointed him to the President’s Advisory Committee on  
Trade Policy and Negotiations. He serves as co-chairman of the  
BlueGreen Alliance and on the boards of Campaign for America’s Future  
and the Economic Policy Institute. He is a member of the IMF and ICEM  
global labor federations and was instrumental in creating Workers  
Uniting, the first global union. Follow @USWBlogger



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