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The Canadian government should continue to support a negotiated political settlement to Colombia’s social and armed conflict and reject any strategy that promises a quick military solution. A fledgling peace process between the government of Colombia and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) collapsed on February 20, 2002 in the wake of the FARC’s kidnapping of Senator Turbay. Meanwhile, after many years of missed opportunities, peace talks with the National Liberation Army (ELN) remain at a standstill. Post September 11, a growing number of powerful voices in Colombia, the U.S. and Canada are calling for military action, some arguing that a military victory is possible and that what is needed is “more war to end the war”. Colombian social organizations oppose such an approach as wrong minded and one that will only result in more bloodshed. Despite increasing marginalization, they continue to press for an authentic peace process that addresses the root causes of the social and armed conflict. Canada should continue to support the demands of Colombian civil society for a negotiated political settlement that includes the active participation of Colombia’s social organizations, and addresses the root causes of the conflict.
The Canadian government should strongly oppose growing U.S. military aid to Colombia (in both its bilateral relations with the U.S. and multilateral fora like the U.N.). The Canadian government has remained silent as the U.S. government has injected massive amounts of military aid to Colombia’s armed forces – implicated in gross and systematic human rights violations – as part of the so-called Plan Colombia. In the wake of September 11 and the collapse of peace talks between the FARC and the Colombian government, there are growing signs the Bush Administration will increase its military assistance. The cost in Colombian lives is likely to be very high. El Salvador’s civil war didn’t end until 11 years after the U.S. began pouring in counter-insurgency military aid, during which time 70,000 people were killed and a million forced to become refugees.
The Canadian government should support and strengthen the role
of Colombia’s social organizations in any future peace process.
Canada should press to ensure that Colombian social organizations,
trade unions, churches, Indigenous peoples, Colombians of African
descent and the womens’ movement, among others -- who have
developed proposals for the country in which they would like to
live, despite enormous obstacles and dangers – are active
participants in any future peace process.
The Canadian government should press the Colombian government to
fully implement recommendations made to it by the U.N. and O.A.S.,
including that it sever ties with paramilitary death squads and
bring to justice in civilian courts any public servants who have
colluded with these groups.A precondition for lasting peace is respect
for human rights. Yet the scale of human rights abuses in Colombia
today rivals, and in many cases surpasses, those committed at the
height of military dictatorships in Central America and the Southern
Cone of Latin America.
In her 2002 report, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson decried the increase in breaches of international humanitarian law and human rights violations, calling them "serious, gross and systematic." She also reported ongoing collusion between state security forces and paramilitary death squads, describing the Colombian government’s commitment to combat these groups as “fickle, weak and inconsistent”. Her report reiterates recommendations aimed at improving the human rights situation which the U.N. has repeatedly made to Colombia but which have largely gone unheeded.
The Canadian government should close loopholes in Canadian export controls which enable Canadian equipment to be used by human rights violators. Between September 1998 and February 2000, military helicopters were sold from surplus stocks of the Canadian Department of National Defence to the U.S. State Department. After upgrading in the U.S., 33 of the helicopters were shipped by early 2001 for use by the First Counter-Narcotics Battalion of the Colombian Army.
In order to prevent such transfers in future, whereby military
equipment ends up in the hands of those who violate human rights,
the Government of Canada should bring forward the necessary legislative
changes to ensure all Canadian goods exported for military end use
to all destinations (i.e. including the U.S.) are subject to export
control and that no such goods are exported to human rights violators.
Meanwhile, Canada should ensure there are no further sales of Canadian
helicopters or any other equipment to the Colombian police and armed
forces. Canada should also press for the adoption of new international
standards that will address this serious gap.
The Canadian government should monitor Canadian corporations doing
business in Colombia & ensure they are not benefiting from or
aggravating the conflict, or exacerbating the human rights crisis.
Colombia has become the 4th largest export market for Canadian exporters
in Latin America and Canada’s 25th largest export market in
the world. This investment has penetrated the Colombian market with
vigorous promotion and assistance from: the Canadian Embassy; Team
Canada missions and other trade promotion initiatives led by Prime
Minister Jean Chrétien and several cabinet ministers; crown
corporations like Export Development Canada and the Canadian Commercial
Corporation. But questions are being raised about the operations
and responsibilities of foreign investors in a country experiencing
violent armed conflict, growing paramilitarism and systematic human
rights abuses.
The Canadian government should regulate crown corporations to ensure
their activities in Colombia do not violate human rights. Before
crown corporations such as Export Development Canada or the Canadian
Commercial Corporation provide any support to companies involved
in a project in Colombia, they should first satisfactorily conduct:
(i) Transparent, broad and authentic consultation with all of those
who will be affected by that project before any decision is made
to proceed; (ii) An independent, broad and credible social, cultural
and environmental impact study with input from all stakeholders
before any decision is made to proceed;(iii) A human rights assessment
that would include consultation with respected national and international
non-governmental human rights organizations to determine if a project
has a potential to exacerbate existing violence or lead to human
rights violations; (iv) Where a project cannot be conducted in a
fashion that does not contribute to repressive capacity or human
rights-violating activity, support should not be extended. Likewise,
where a project may contribute to unacceptable environmental, social
or cultural consequences (i.e. lead to violations of the U.N. Covenant
on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, as well as international
environmental treaties and agreements) support should not be extended.
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