U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement: Fuels the Fires of the Conflict
(Thanks to the American Friends Service Committee and Global Exchange for their information on this topic)

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Despite rampant violations of human rights, including labor union murders, and the failure of U.S. policies to reduce coca production and end the now 50 year-old conflict, the U.S. is preparing to fund Plan Colombia II and has negotiated a new free trade agreement (FTA) with Colombia. The U.S. and Colombia signed the trade pact on November 22, 2006, and it must be voted on in Congress before July 1, 2007.

An extension of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) like NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement), The U.S.-Colombia FTA is yet another manifestation of the “one-size-fits-all” model that thus far has caused extensive economic, environmental and social devastation in Mexico. NAFTA and other FTAs have bankrupted farmers, resulted in the loss of millions of jobs, made life-saving medicines unaffordable for people in poor countries, and lowered health, safety and environmental standards.

A FTA in Colombia is problematic for many reasons, including:

* The conflict in Colombia is deeply rooted in economic, social, and political inequalities. Wealth and land remain concentrated in the hands of a few and Colombia’s political system neglects the needs of the majority of the population—especially Afro-Colombians and Indigenous peoples. The government and those in power respond with violent repression to those who attempt to change the unequal situation. As President Alvaro Uribe pushes the FTA through the Colombian Constitutional Court and legislature, voices of dissent will continue to be repressed, fueling the violence already felt in these communities of peaceful resistance.

Political and economic marginalization has already stoked widespread protests and political insecurity. However, dissent has been met with harsh repression. For example, on May 15, 2006 a national summit was called by Afro-Colombians and Indigenous leaders across fourteen provinces in Colombia to protest against the FTA and militarization. Tens of thousands of people who came out were met with severe repression, resulting in many deaths.

*Agriculture is the third most important sector in terms of employment in Colombia, with 22.7% (almost double the figures for employment in the industrial sector, which generates 13.%), and provides 11.4% of GDP. Given that 12 years of NAFTA and the resulting flood of low-cost corn, wheat and beef imports from the U.S. that has been a major contributor to the displacement of 1.7 million small scale Mexican farmers, the potential negative impact on Colombian peasants, indigenous and Afro-Colombians is real. For example, significantly privileged under the agreement is Colombian palm oil -- the very same crop that is promoting violence and displacement among Afro-Colombian communities in the Chocó region. Since opening Colombia’s market to compete with the U.S. will actually lead to more human insecurity, U.S. trade policy in Colombia is inconsistent with the stated goals of the U.S. government’s drug war policy.

* The U.S.-Colombia FTA lacks meaningful provisions to strengthen human rights protections. With regard to labor rights, the FTA only requires countries to effectively enforce their own labor laws, with no incentive to bring weak laws and enforcement up to the International Labor Organization (ILO) core labor standards. The enforcement and penalty mechanisms in the labor chapter of the U.S.-Colombia FTA are so weak that they provide no credible influence over the multinational corporations or Colombian government. Meanwhile, Colombia continues to be the most violent place in the world for trade unionists. According to the National Labor School (ENS) in Colombia, 70 trade unionists were murdered in 2005. Wages and working conditions in all countries will be hurt if trade pacts continue to encourage corporations to race to the bottom in workers’ rights.

* As with other FTs, the U.S.-Colombia FTA negotiating text was never available to civil society until months after the negotiations were completed. This is despite Colombian constitutional law that dictates such text must be published. The “one-size-fits-all” approach to U.S. trade policy with negotiations conducted in secret undermines the role of citizens in shaping their economic futures. Colombia is a unique case because the democratic institutions are currently weak and civil society groups face severe repression.

In attempt to reclaim some meaningful participation in the process, Colombian leaders from the Nasa indigenous community organized a referendum on the FTA in the province of Cauca in which 51,330 out of 68,448 registered voters participated and 98 percent voted “no.” Not only were the results ignored and discredited, organizers of this referendum were accused of being organized by “dark forces of terrorism” by President Uribe.

* In an effort to prepare itself for the negotiation and implementation of the FTA, the Colombian government is “reforming” its constitution. The U.S. demands that laws be changed in order to accommodate trade agreements. In Colombia the government has preemptively changed the country’s laws to create a more secure investment environment eroding the inalienable constitutional rights granted to Indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities in the process. Now these reforms will be codified into trade rules that supersede the constitution.

The so called “forestry law” that recently passed in the Colombian Congress with significant support by the U.S. Agency of International Development (USAID) is a clear example of this. “The law creates the concept of “vuelo forestal” (forestry overflight), which separates the land from the trees and all else above ground level, opening the door to the forests’ exploitation by multinational companies,” states an analysis of the new law from Bogotá’s University of the Andes and German Development Agencies. While indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities collectively own some 28 million hectares of forest lands, under this forestry law they now only control the first three meters of the trees in their territory.

TAKE ACTION
Urge Congress not to vote for the US-Colombia FTA! U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement: Fuels the Fires of the Conflict
(Thanks to the American Friends Service Committee and Global Exchange for their information on this topic)

Take Action:
Sign this petition, or use this handy guide from the American Friends service Committee to call your members of Congress.

The complete US-Colombia FTA text is available at http://www.ustr.gov/Trade_Agreements/Bilateral/Colombia_FTA/Draft_Text/Section_Index.html