Marston condemns Governments' free trade plans with Colombia

MARSTON CONDEMNS GOVERNMENTS' FREE TRADE PLANS WITH COLOMBIA

OTTAWA – In Toronto for the Ontario Federation of Labour Convention and a rally to oppose the proposed Canada-Colombia free trade agreement, Human Rights Critic Wayne Marston (Hamilton East – Stoney Creek) condemned the trade agreement that has no plan to deal with the human rights crisis in Colombia.

“Harper’s Governments rush to beat others to Colombia, including George Bush, puts Canada’s reputation as a leader in human rights advocacy in jeopardy. The people of Colombia were hoping that Canada would use its influence to help them in their struggle for human rights,” said Marston in his address to the OFL.

The Harper government has been fast-tracking trade negotiations with the Colombian government in spite of the fact that the U.S. Congress has blocked a similar initiative put forward by George W. Bush. Indigenous peoples, Afro-Colombians, human rights activists, journalists and trade unionists struggling to rebuild their communities in Colombia are afraid that a Canadian deal with Columbia could be used by the Republicans as a precedent for the ratification of their proposed initiative, which similarly ignores human rights issues.

An NDP motion in the International Trade committee recommending that negotiations be halted to develop a framework for a Human Rights Impact Assessment prior to signing a trade agreement failed due to lack of support from Liberal and Conservative members of the committee.

“In the last 5 years, extrajudicial killings in Colombia have doubled. The Government is embroiled in a scandal where over 40 members of Congress and the Presidents own cousin and Senator are under investigation for connections to para-military groups.” commented Marston.

“Harpers’ governments’ response to the issue of serious human rights concerns is weak and embarrassing. Canada is a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council and we should be leading by example and setting the precedent to make sure that human rights are a leading concern in trade agreements, not something that is swept under the table in the hopes that it goes away.”

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