Yessika Hoyos (white and black sweater) after her presentation to the Standing Committee on International Trade
The debate on the Canada – Colombia Free Trade Agreement (Bill C-2) has now moved to the Standing Committee on International Trade and this all party body is hearing testimony from organizations and individuals both in support and against the Agreement, specifically speaking to the “Brison deal“, and amendment which seeks to whitewash human rights concerns about the Agreement. On Thursday April 29, the Committee heard powerful testimony from Yessica Hoyos Morales, visiting Ottawa from Colombia. Nearly a year since her previous visit to lobby MPs against the deal, Yessica’s message was the same – don’t sign the deal, don’t reward violence.
Yessica’s father, Jorge Darío Hoyos Franco, was a Colombia labour leader assassinated in 2001 for his union activism, just months before President Alvaro Uribe was elected in Colombia. Despite ongoing death threats against her and her family, Yessika has spent each day since his death supporting human rights in Colombia and telling the story of her father’s activism in Colombia. “My father was a dreamer. He was a cheerful, generous man. He was our friend and our hero, the man who helped us discover the world,” were the words she used to describe him at one United States House Committee hearing in February 2009.
Last week, the members of the Standing Committee on International Trade heard from Yessika:
“In Colombia, the human rights crisis is ongoing and improvements are a long way off. Fundamental rights and freedoms are increasingly restricted in the context of a series of disinstitutionalization (sic) of the democratic state as shown in different areas. There is attack against the civilian population, the threat against trade unionists, and against defenders of human rights and social organizations, and they are revealing the lie of this demobilization of paramilitary groups.”
She spoke to the Colombian government’s failure to acknowledge and respond to the rising number of violent, armed groups which have grown – but are not considered ‘paramilitary groups’ due to the government’s declaration that paramilitary groups in Colombia have been disbanded. She highlighted the government’s participation in criminal acts against the Colombia population though the DAS – (Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad (Colombia’s intelligence service). In 2009 reports uncovered that the DAS – reporting directly to the President – created a special unit which focused directly on wiretapping and collecting evidence against those who had spoken out against the government including human rights defenders, church leader, union leaders and lawyers.
Yessika concluded her testimony with the following:
“I know that some of the members of professional organizations in Colombia have said that Colombia wants the treaty to be adopted. What I can tell you is that the Afro-Colombian organizations, the three union organizations in my country, human rights people, we are asking you not to approve that treaty with a government that’s still violating human rights.
We ask you to please conduct a transparent and impartial analysis so that you will see what the impact of this treaty will have on my country. We do not believe in an analysis that is conducted by any government. We ask that the study be conducted by an independent entity. You are the ones who decide who to listen to. I trust that you will listen to the victims, social organizations, defenders of human rights and that you will defend and protect life.”
Next Ms. Gauri Sreenivasan from the Canadian Council for International Co-operation presented to the Committee and handed a copy of the report “Making a Bad Situation Worse: An Analysis of the Text of the Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement” to each member.
Both testimonies emphatically reminded the Committee that in 2008 it recommended to the government that a full and independent human rights impact assessment be done before further discussions on the FTA took place. The Committee has failed to produce this report. Human rights organizations in Colombia and Canada have consistently demanded the Canadian government take action on the recommendation.
But incredibly Liberal Trade Critic and MP for Kings-Hants Scott Brison responded to receipt of the CCIC paper by expressing the following:
“I’ve read through this and this is helpful. The Canadian Council for International Co-operation, Canadian Association of Labour Lawyers, the Canadian Labour Congress, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, are all independent organizations and have provided us with a very thorough assessment of this free trade agreement on human rights in terms of the impact. So in fact you have helped us fulfill our commitment as a committee to have an independent human rights assessment (emphasis added). And we thank you. That does help inform our thinking on this issue.”
Please take action now and demand key Liberals listen to the testimony of Yesskia Hoyos and others who will appear before the Standing Committee on International Trade over the weeks. Liberal Trade Critic Scott Brison cannot be allowed to suggest that the Committee has come close to fulfilling its comittment. Let them know that the Canada – Colombia Free Trade Agreement is a bad deal for Colombia, for Canada, for human rights and for trade justice. Click here to take action now. Thank you.
Carleen
