From: Witness for Peace NE wfpne@witnessforpeace.org
Witness for Peace Action Alert: Say No to Free Trade with Colombia while Violence and Impunity continue! January 10th, 2005
Please act now- we have an extension on this important letter circulating in the U.S. House of Representatives. This action relates directly to both the WFP campaign on Economic Justice and our work on stopping U.S. Military Aid to Colombia. It is important that you ask your member of Congress to sign this letter to end unfair trade with Colombia in the midst of severe violence against those seeking fair wages and decent working conditions. Call today- our time is limited! Thank you for your continued work towards peace and justice in Latin America,
Holly Miller: National Grassroots Organizer / Economic Justice Janna Bowman : National Grassroots Organizer / Military Aid - Colombia Joanne Ranney: New England Regional Coordinator
Note: Apologies for duplicate mailings, but if you do not receive this message twice we have not received your contact information for updating our WFP database. In order to be more effective in our organizing efforts we would greatly appreciate receiving your updated contact information (name, address, phone, email address). Thanks in advance.
Say No to Free Trade with Colombia while Violence and Impunity continue! Action needed by Jan. 12th
Contact your House Representative before Wednesday January 12th, asking him/her to sign-on to a Congressional letter to the U.S. Trade Representative asking for an end to the violence against Colombian trade unionists before the U.S. considers a free trade agreement with the Andean region.
The most basic worker right, the right to life, has been denied to thousands of trade unionists in Colombia. Over 50 Colombian trade unionists were assassinated in 2004, bringing the total to well over 2,000 Colombian trade unionists murdered since 1991. In Colombia impunity has remained near total for those who murder trade unionists, with only a handle of these cases ever making it to the courts.
Despite the horrific levels of violence against Colombian trade unionists, the U.S. initiated negotiations for a free trade agreement with Colombia (and other Andean countries) earlier this year. The proposed free trade agreement would weaken current U.S. protections for worker rights and accelerate the race to the bottom for labor standards.
We ask that you take a moment today to contact your House Representative, asking her/him to sign-on to the Evans-Lynch Congressional letter to the U.S. Trade Representative, sending the message that the U.S. should not enter into free trade agreements with governments that fail to address violence against workers.
To call your member of Congress call: 202-224-3121 and ask for the foreign policy aide. To find your member of Congress visit: www.house.gov See below for the full text of the Congressional sign-on letter.
Here's a sample message:
"My name is ___________ and I'm calling from ___________.
"I'm calling today to ask Representative ___________ to sign a Dear Colleague letter being circulated by Representatives Evans and Lynch on the continuing violence and impunity in Colombia.
"This letter will be sent to the U.S. Trade Representative asking him to use the Andean Free Trade Agreement negotiations as an opportunity to urge Colombia to protect its union leaders and end impunity.
"Colombia continues to be the most dangerous place in the world to be a trade unionist, with over 2,000 trade unionists assassinated since 1991. The Colombian government has permitted this violence to continue by failing to prosecute over 99% of these murders.
"I'd like to urge Representative __________ to sign on to this Dear Colleague letter, sending the strong message that the U.S. should not enter into free trade agreements with countries that fail to address violence against workers.
"For more information or to sign the letter, please contact Stephanie Krenich in Representative Evan's office at 5-5905 by close of business on Wednesday January 12th. Thank you."
Tell U.S. Trade Representative: No Free Trade with Colombia Until Violence and Impunity End "As union activists have fallen by the hundreds here, making Colombia the world's most dangerous country for union organizers, their families and those who have dodged assassins' bullets have had little recourse. Practically all killings of union leaders have gone unsolved." --from "Assassination is an Issue in Trade Talks" by Juan Forero in the New York Times, 11/18/04
Dear Colleague: Last week, the United States, Ecuador, Colombia and Peru wrapped up their sixth round of negotiations for the Andean Free Trade Agreement, a new set of bilateral trade agreements. We urge you to join us in sending a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Robert B. Zoellick asking him to use the negotiations between the United States and the Andean countries as an opportunity to compel Colombia to protect its union leaders, prosecute those who attack unionists, and reform the labor code to bring it into compliance with international standards.
Colombia continues to be the most dangerous place in the world for union leaders; in the last 13 years, over 2,000 Colombian trade unionists were murdered, and thousands more were threatened, displaced, or forced to relocate. Most of this violence has been attributed to the country's right-wing paramilitaries, who have been embroiled in a 40-year civil war with leftist guerillas.
According to the State Department's Colombia Country Report on Human Rights Practices released in February 2004, "impunity remained at the core of the country's human rights problem." The report testifies that "freedom of association was limited in practice by threats and acts of violence committed by illegal armed groups against labor unions and NGOs." Further, "paramilitaries threatened--and sometimes killed--union members who refused to renounce collective bargaining agreements." The U.S. should not enter into free trade agreements with countries that foster an atmosphere of fear and repression.
While these conditions are tragic for Colombian workers, they also affect workers in the United States. We have already seen the loss of many manufacturing and other jobs as companies move jobs to nations where labor is the cheapest and labor rights are not enforced. Colombia's failure to protect union leaders and enforce labor standards encourages businesses to relocate there, furthering an already widespread "race to the bottom." As we have seen with NAFTA, this will deteriorate, not improve, the employment situation for workers in the United States and throughout the Americas. According to the Trade Promotion Act of 2002, the U.S. is required to negotiate language that ensures that a party "does not fail to effectively enforce its own labor laws." Please join us in relaying our concerns about conditions in Colombia to Ambassador Zoellick. This letter asks him to ensure that progress is made on these issues before the U.S. enters into a free trade agreement with the Andean region, and to include enforceable labor rights provisions in the agreement itself.
For more information or to sign onto the letter, please contact Stephanie Krenrich in Rep. Evans' office via email or at 5-5905. Sincerely, LANE EVANS STEPHEN F. LYNCH Member of Congress Member of Congress Witness for Peace 707 8th Street SE Washington DC 20003 Phone 202.547.6112 Fax 202.547.6103
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Joanne Ranney, Coord.
Witness For Peace, New England Region
Phone: 802-434-2980
www.witnessforpeace.org/newengland
