Interested in maladministration. Estd. 2005
RTEs Sarah McInerney ? Fianna Fail supporter? Anthony
Joe Duffy is dishonest and untrustworthy Anthony
Robert Watt complaint: Time for decision by SIPO Anthony
RTE in breach of its own editorial principles Anthony
Waiting for SIPO Anthony Public Inquiry >>
A Blog About Human Rights
UN human rights chief calls for priority action ahead of climate summit Sat Oct 30, 2021 17:18 | Human Rights
5 Year Anniversary Of Kem Ley?s Death Sun Jul 11, 2021 12:34 | Human Rights
Poor Living Conditions for Migrants in Southern Italy Mon Jan 18, 2021 10:14 | Human Rights
Right to Water Mon Aug 03, 2020 19:13 | Human Rights
Human Rights Fri Mar 20, 2020 16:33 | Human Rights Human Rights in Ireland >>
Taxpayers Funding a £475-a-Day Expert to ?Decolonise? Hadrian?s Wall Sun May 05, 2024 11:00 | Richard Eldred Taxpayers are funding a 'specialist' at £475 a day to 'decolonise' parts of Hadrian's Wall. The initiative aims to confront "Britain's colonial past and systemic racism".
The post Taxpayers Funding a £475-a-Day Expert to ?Decolonise? Hadrian?s Wall appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Topsy-Turvy Land Sun May 05, 2024 09:00 | Guy de la Bédoyère It seems that Enid Blyton was way ahead of the curve when it came to understanding the tearing of society apart by compelling everyone to join in the madness to be the same and using Stasi-like police as enforcers.
The post Topsy-Turvy Land appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Green Blob Tells Government to Spend £30 Billion on Machine to Remove CO2 From the Air Sun May 05, 2024 07:00 | Ben Pile The 'Green Blob' has told the Government to spend £30bn trying to remove CO2 from the air using experimental technology that will likely fail and would do no good even if it worked.
The post Green Blob Tells Government to Spend £30 Billion on Machine to Remove CO2 From the Air appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
News Round-Up Sun May 05, 2024 01:14 | Will Jones A summary of the most interesting stories in the past 24 hours that challenge the prevailing orthodoxy about the ?climate emergency?, public health ?crises? and the supposed moral defects of Western civilisation.
The post News Round-Up appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
U.S. Government Mandates Preferred Pronouns in All Workplaces Sat May 04, 2024 15:00 | Will Jones The U.S. Government has mandated the use of preferred pronouns in every workplace in America in a clampdown on 'discrimination' against transgender people under the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Even customers must comply.
The post U.S. Government Mandates Preferred Pronouns in All Workplaces appeared first on The Daily Sceptic. Lockdown Skeptics >>
Voltaire, international edition
Voltaire, International Newsletter N°85 Fri May 03, 2024 14:25 | en
The Kastner case resurfaces Fri May 03, 2024 14:06 | en
Non-Semite (sic) Khazar Netanyahu calls US anti-genocidal academics "anti-Semite... Fri May 03, 2024 07:13 | en
Paris 2024 and Berlin 1936 in the service of an impossible imperial dream, by Th... Tue Apr 30, 2024 07:07 | en
Georgia and the financing of political organizations from abroad Sat Apr 27, 2024 05:37 | en Voltaire Network >>
|
Search author name words: d
Take a stand for human rights: do not ratify the EU Free Trade Agreement with Colombia
national |
miscellaneous |
press release
Monday May 26, 2014 17:25 by José Antonio Gutiérrez D.
Christian Aid Ireland, Grupo Raíces (Grúpa Fréamhacha), Justice for Colombia Ireland, LASC and Trócaire are calling the Irish Parliament not to ratify an EU-Colombia Free Trade Agreement which could probably be voted in June this year.
http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/tds-and-senators-...ombia Send a strong message to the Irish Parliament: do not ratify the EU-Colombia Free Trade Agreement
Christian Aid Ireland, Grupo Raíces (Grúpa Fréamhacha), Justice for Colombia Ireland, LASC and Trócaire are calling the Irish Parliament not to ratify an EU-Colombia Free Trade Agreement which could probably be voted in June this year.
http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/tds-and-senators-...ombia
Some background on the EU-Colombia Free Trade Agreement
This Free Trade Agreement is being negotiated since 2007; at first, it was called “Association Agreement” and it was being negotiate with the Andean Community (Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia). Eventually, these negotiations led the Andean Community to split up and the EU pushed then bilateral Free Trade Agreements (FTA) with Peru and Colombia. From the start, these agreements were criticised because they pushed an aggressive neoliberal agenda on services and trade; concerns have been raised on intellectual property and also, on their drive for agribusiness and mega-extractives, which coupled with open market politics, could be ruinous for Colombian small-farmers, which receive no forms of subsidies. Indeed, this FTA was modelled upon the US-Colombia FTA implemented in 2012, which drove millions of Colombians to protest in 2013 because heavily-subsidised US imports are destroying the local agricultural production. In December 2012 the European Parliament ratified the FTA with Colombia and Peru, but now national parliaments of all member states need to ratify it.
Adding fuel to the Colombian conflict
The situation is particularly delicate in relation to Colombia, a country where it is hoped that negotiations currently held between the government and FARC rebels can put an end to an over 60 years conflict. At the heart of this conflict has always been the land question and massive land-grab has pushed small-farmers into political violence which has permeated all spheres of society. The humanitarian dimension of this conflict cannot be understated. According to Karol Balfe, from Christian Aid Ireland, “Colombia has more internally displaced people than anywhere else on earth with an estimated 4.9 to 5.5 million people displaced from their homes and living within the country. More than 70,000 civilians have been killed or have disappeared in Colombia in the past 20 years. The widespread and systematic human rights violations are directly linked to the extremely unequal distribution of land, power and wealth. Despite being a middle-income country, one in three Colombians lives in poverty. A recent UN study indicated that just 1% of the population owns 52% of the country’s land, which has contributed to making Colombia one of the most unequal nations on earth.”
The peace process in Colombia is at a crucial stage, as acknowledged by Hilary Daly from Trócaire: “any trade agreement which undermines the rights of small farmers will have a negative effect on peace and will undermine the process”. There is a growing consensus in the peace negotiations that the small-farmers’ economy needs to be strengthened, although “critical issues such as agrarian reform have not yet been agreed between the negotiators”. Yet, the spirit of this agreement runs contrary to this.
Trade Unionists under fire
It is also important to bear in mind that business in Colombia takes place in precarious conditions for workers and they are likely to deteriorate with this FTA, as it already happened with the US-Colombia FTA, in spite of a toothless Labour Action Plan which remains tokenistic at best, and failed spectacularly to improve the conditions of workers and the precarious human rights situation of Colombian trade unionists. Last year, 60% of all trade unionists murdered in the world were killed in Colombia (nearly 3,000 trade unionists have been killed since 1986), and the situation is not getting any better. “During my recent 2 week visit to Colombia representing Justice for Colombia Ireland in an Irish-Asturias delegation” recounts Mick Dowling, a retired SIPTU trade unionist, “we visited the lovely tourist town of Cartagena, where we had the honour to meet the general secretary of CUT in the region, Luis Alberto Plazas Vélez. In recent days we get the awful news of an attempt on the life of our good friend and colleague. It is lucky he had a bodyguard to protect him, without him he would now more than likely be dead. This practice of assassination in Colombia is the rule rather than the exception for active trade unionists who are just trying to represent their members in the struggle for a better life”.
Send a strong message: we do not want this agreement
13 countries of the EU have already ratified the agreement (Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, UK), yet there are 14 more countries which could do a difference. We need to send a clear message that it should not be acceptable to proceed with such an agreement in spite of the negative consequences it may have for millions. We need a Europe with a clear commitment to human rights which supports unequivocally the Colombian peace process through concrete actions; Ireland should show leadership in this process because of its own history. We need trade which works for the majority of people in Colombia and Europe, which is sustainable and respectful of the environment and the coming generations. For this two powerful reasons, help us send a strong message to Irish parliamentarians: do not ratify the EU-Colombia Free Trade Agreement!
José Antonio Gutiérrez D.
26th May, 2014
Sign up the petition at:
|
View Comments Titles Only
save preference
Comments (2 of 2)
Jump To Comment: 2 1Yet another one!
http://www.globalresearch.ca/another-secret-trade-agree...88505
https://wikileaks.org/tisa-financial/WikiLeaks-secret-t...x.pdf
And the offical version:
http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-13-107_en.htm
Two very good articles, by Don Quijones, explaining the rise in these sort of agreements, also due as well, I reckon, by the lack of progess in the W.T.O.
http://ragingbullshit.com/2013/11/02/warning-the-global...onal/
http://www.testosteronepit.com/home/2014/6/21/the-globa....html