Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2012-12-10-Speech-1-075-000"
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"en.20121210.16.1-075-000"2
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"Madam President, I am opposed to consenting to this Free Trade Agreement. The abuses of human rights that are spoken about are not historical. Colombia remains the most dangerous place on earth for trade unionists. This year at least 15 have already been killed. The Trade Union Confederation, CUT, recorded 146 threats to the lives of workers this year. Add to that the systematic abuse of the rights of human rights defenders, of journalists and of indigenous communities, and you have a clear picture of a government that shows blatant disregard for human rights, democratic rights and workers’ rights.
Justice is a rare commodity in Colombia for many victims of human rights abuses, with rates of impunity of over 90%. That could become even worse with the passing of a proposed constitutional reform – a reform which is supported by President Santos – that would further extend military jurisdiction. In addition, there is a new study which demonstrates that the Free Trade Agreement would expose the EU to increasing risks of money laundering and tax evasion, deregulating some capital controls. This action plan that has been spoken of is operating here as a fig leaf for some MEPs to be able to say that the box is ticked, we have looked after human rights, now we can proceed with this Free Trade Agreement.
There has correctly been a major movement by the trade unions in Europe and in Colombia against this agreement. It was a disgrace that, in the Committee on International Trade, the Social Democrats who have historic, traditional ties to the workers’ movement – voted in favour of this agreement. I would hope they do differently tomorrow but I am not confident about the majority of them. Similarly we have a recommendation from the Irish Government for Irish MEPs to vote in favour of this – yet another betrayal of the labour movement by the Irish Labour Party. For these reasons, our group tomorrow will propose to refer this back to committee. We would encourage those who put workers’ rights and human rights above the profits of big business to support our proposal."@en1
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