David Begg's letter on EU's trade with Colombia
20 Mar 2009
I firmly believe that the European Union has to withdraw the GSP+ benefits in the case of Colombia.
20 March 2009
Dear Minister Dick Roche,
Thank you for your letter of 17 December 2008 which was a reply to my letter of 17 November concerning the situation in Colombia.
As you noted in your letter the European Commission decided on 9 December on the list of countries which would benefit under GSP+ and Colombia was included in that list. In your letter you conclude that "the Commission considered that based on objective criteria that Colombia qualified for GSP+. The compliance of beneficiary countries with the standards which entitle them to benefit under GSP+ is kept under constant review by the Commission and the possibility exists that such benefits may be withdrawn in cases of non-compliance."
The decision to include Colombia on the list of countries which would benefit under GSP+ is especially difficult to understand given that the EU claims that to qualify for GSP+ status a country must ratify and comply with 27 Conventions on Human Rights and Labour standards, including ILO Convention 87 on freedom of association and the protection of the right to organise and Convention 98 on the right to organise and collective bargaining. Colombia clearly does not comply with these conventions.
Only during the last two months four trade union leaders were killed in Colombia.
- 20 February assassination of Leoncio Gurierrez of the SUTEV trade union.
- 15 February assassination of Guillermo Antonio Ramirez of the SER trade union
- 12 February assassination of Luis Alberto Arango Crespo, president of the Fishing and Agricultural Workers' Association.
- 28 January assassination of Leovigildo Mejia of the ASOGRAS trade union.
In addition to the four murders the regional trade union leader Jose Jair Valencia Agudelo a member of EDUCAL trade union is in intensive care in hospital after having been shot six times on his way to work on 26 February.
Last year 46 trade unionists were killed in Colombia. The International Trade Union Confederation concludes in its annual survey of violations of trade union rights that Colombia "remained the most dangerous country in the world for trade unionists".
I am also extremely concerned that the EU has begun negotiations with Colombia for a bilateral EU-Colombia Free Trade Agreement, which would provide Colombia with further economic benefits despite the country is making almost no progress in ending violence against trade unionists, and we note that President Barack Obama and the United States recently rejected such a deal citing anti-trade union attacks as the principle reason for doing so.
I therefore kindly ask you to act in favour of opening an EU investigation into Colombia's labour and human rights performance as it is permitted to do under the regulation governing GSP+, as you also noted in your letter to me.
Any serious objective analysis of Colombia's compliance with the 27 conventions on Human Rights and Labour Standards can only come to one conclusion: Colombia does not comply with these conventions.
I firmly believe that the European Union has to withdraw the GSP+ benefits in the case of Colombia.
Best regards,
David Begg.
General Secretary