by René Lavanchy
CAMPAIGNERS are lobbying the European Commission to examine Colombia’s human rights record as it negotiates another free trade agreement with the country.
Brussels is drawing up an agreement with the four-nation Andean Community – Peru, Colombia, Ecuador and Bolivia – and officials hope to strike a deal by this summer.
But Socialist Group MEPs, who accuse President Alvaro Uribe’s regime of allowing political imprisonment and the widespread murder of trade unionists, are calling for any deal to be linked to regular inspection of human rights abuses.
Richard Howitt, Labour MEP for the East of England, said: “I think we’ve fallen short. I strongly believe that human rights are being abused in Colombia and I don’t think we’ve forced that onto the agenda.”
After a successful round of talks in Brussels last week, Mr Howitt and others are trying to persuade the commission to set targets for the Colombian government on issues such as preventing and prosecuting killings of trade unionists. He hopes that MEPs will demand safeguards before voting to accept the deal.
A delegation of unions and civil society groups recently visited the parliament to lobby MEPs and trade commissioner Catherine Ashton. Tarcisio Mora, leader of Colombia’s CUT trade union federation, called for talks to be suspended and called the killings “genocide”.
Ms Ashton’s spokesperson said the talks were making good progress, adding: “Every agreement that we negotiate always has a human rights clause.
We always take them very seriously.”
But Mr Howitt responded: “They constantly say ‘we’ve got a human rights clause’, but many human rights campaigners say they’re not actually meaningful. The only countries we’re ever prepared to take on on human rights grounds are countries where we have very marginal volumes of trade.”
The union Unite is backing the Colombia campaign and the European Trade Union Confederation is being canvassed for its support.
