Trade Unions and Paramilitaries in Columbia

MPs hear shocking truths of Colombian trade union deaths

by Matthew George - 24th November 2011, 14.51 GMT
MPs have warned Colombia is still the most dangerous place on the planet to be a trade unionist despite promises from its government of reform.

They were speaking in a special Commons debate arranged to coincide with a two-day visit to the UK by President Juan Manuel Santos, during which Prime Minister David Cameron welcomed him to Downing Street.

Opening the debate, Jim Sheridan condemned the large number of right-wing paramilitaries who operate with almost complete impunity, systematically murdering the ordinary people of Colombia in droves, and an army that clearly colludes and co-operates with them.

He said despite promising things would change, 110 social activists had been killed since Santos came to power, with 29 human rights defenders murdered in the first half of this year and no one brought to trial for any of them.

The Labour MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire North last week met Aidee Moreno, whose entire family have been targeted because of her trade union activities, with her brother, husband and mother brutally murdered by paramilitaries, while her niece had disappeared.

I had the privilege and pleasure of meeting that brave young woman, who has put her life on the line for people in her community.

I have to say, unfortunately, that time will tell whether her bravery is rewarded or whether she is found dead killed as well.

We complain about the problems in relation to workers rights and trade unions in this country; it is a humbling experience then to see what happens to people in Colombia who stand up for their basic human rights.

Sheridan said activists risk their lives in their efforts to bargain collectively for better pay and conditions, and Colombia was the most dangerous place in the world to be a trade unionist.

Some 2,908 trade unionists have been killed in Colombia since 1986, and 23 have been killed this year alone.

People had been brought to justice in only 10% of cases, and while the Vice-President was a former trade union leader, nothing had changed for activists.

On August 16, Rafael Andres Gonzalez Garnica was murdered yards from a police checkpoint in Caqueta, while six days later Alfonso Diaz Villa was assassinated near his home.

He was a regional leader of the university workers union SINTRAUNICOL and had been receiving death threats for six years.

Sheridan said MPs and peers would work with British unions and the NGO Justice for Colombia to help protect the safety and rights of all those fighting for justice.

Our main priority is to help to encourage the parties to the Colombian conflict to engage in a proper peace process that achieves real social justice, because the conflict will not end without it.

Liberal Democrat Cheltenham MP Martin Horwood said the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions reported more activists had been killed in Colombia than in the whole of the rest of the world.

Amnesty International analysis suggested roughly half of the killings were by paramilitary groups outside the control of state agencies, and a very small fraction were guerilla movements such as FARC.

But Amnesty reckoned that more than 40% were connected to state forces. That is an extremely troubling statistic in any country that aspires to democracy and the rule of law, as Colombia clearly does.

Former Labour Foreign Office Minister Chris Bryant said since 2007 there had been only six convictions in 195 cases involving trade unionists, while last year at least 51 had been murdered, and the Attorney-Generals office had opened only one case.

He added: I am delighted at the change in the mood music, especially regarding human rights defenders and workers. However, in the first six months of 2011, there was a 129% increase on the previous year in the number of attacks on human rights defenders.

Labour MP Sandra Osborne (Ayr, Carrick & Cumnock), went to the womens prison in Bogota on a visit to the country with Justice for Colombia.

It was a traffic and heart-wrenching experience to visit patio 6, where trade unionists are locked up for defending the rights to protest and organise.

Osborne said during her prison visit she met trade unionist and academic Liliany Obando, who was locked up for highlighting the killings of other activists.

She has been detained for more than three years accused of rebellion without ever being convicted of a crime, shares a patio with paramilitaries and is allowed outside for only an hour a week.

But she told Osborne: Even though we are imprisoned, we dont give up our struggle, we retain our principles and our morals. We are women who can change things.

The MP concluded: Colombias political prisoners are not mentioned in the international media, unlike political prisoners in Burma or Zimbabwe.

I will never forget the experience of seeing single mothers and babies being locked up over the mothers trade union activities. As we condemn that practice in other countries, so too must we condemn it in Colombia.

Foreign Office Minister Jeremy Browne said the government was completely committed to strong human rights in Colombia, and wanted a normalised military that protected rather than abused them.

He said progress had been made and the number of prosecutions for extra-judicial killings had risen sharply.

But he agreed with Sheridan the problem was far from being resolved, and the AttorneyGenerals office was currently investigating 1,486 human rights violations allegedly committed by members of the armed forces.

Browne said: A normalised, strong, healthy relationship with the Colombians requires marked improvements on human rights.

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