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UNI Europa is urging European governments to reject plans for a European Union free trade deal with Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, who has allowed union activists to be killed with impunity in his country.



“Uribe has not done enough to stem the tide of violence against trade unionists and other activists in Colombia,” said UNI Europa Regional Secretary Bernadette Ségol. “It is abhorrent that the European Union should be considering engaging in free trade with a regime condemned around the world for human rights abuses and particularly the targeting of trade unions.”



UNI is demanding justice in the cases of thousands of trade union activists killed in Colombia, including Leonidas Gomez Rozo, a worker and union representative at Citibank, who was found murdered in his home on March 8, 2008. The case is still not solved.



UNI has been a vocal campaigner for an end to the atrocities and violent attacks on the labour movement in Colombia.



In recognition of the recent declarations by the major trade union confederations in Colombia, the European trade union movement is uniting in solidarity to ensure that no deals are made while the Uribe regime turns its back on attacks on trade unions.



Colombia remains the most dangerous place in the world to be a trade unionist. Displacement, murder and repression are everyday fears for trade unionists in Colombia and thousands of trade union members and leaders have been killed by paramilitaries and even the Colombian army and police over the last decade.



In 2008 the number of trade unionists killed rose to 49, up 25 percent from the previous year, says the UK-based NGO Justice for Colombia. The group says that no one has been convicted in 95 percent of the attacks on union activists in Colombia.



The Colombian trade union movement has specifically asked for solidarity at this time to ensure that the proposed EU-Colombia free trade agreement, currently being negotiated, is blocked.



UNI has a global Freedom from Fear campaign against attacks on trade unionists. It has focused particularly on Colombia, the deadliest country in the world for trade unionists, which has been seeking free trade deals as it allows the killings of union activists, journalists, indigenous people and others to go unpunished.



As part of the campaign, UNI is urging Canadian lawmakers to hold off on a free-trade pact with Colombia until they have a human rights impact assessment and Uribe addresses any concerns they have about human rights violations.



UNI is also supporting US unions and workers who have so far been able to prevent the US from signing a trade deal with Colombia while the attacks on unions continue.



Click on Related Files for a fact sheet from Justice for Colombia that you can use to lobby lawmakers to stop plans for a free trade deal with Colombia.



link to the circular into EN

http://www.uniglobalunion.org/Apps/iportal.nsf/pages/20090211_6dy3En?Opendocument&login&exURL=http://www.uniglobalunion.org/Apps/UNICirculars.nsf/0/6AAAD0088B739AB1C125767700514907



Lien vers la circulaire en FR

http://www.uniglobalunion.org/Apps/iportal.nsf/pages/20090211_6dy3En?Opendocument&login&exURL=http://www.uniglobalunion.org/Apps/UNICirculars.nsf/0/4FA57597AE37905DC12576780036D546