Unfortunately, on Monday 19th April, Liberals sided in one bloc with the Conservatives and voted in favor of the C-2 draft law on the implementation of the Free Trade Agreement between Canada and Colombia (CCFTA). Therefore, the draft went through the stage of second reading and is now sent back before the Standing Committee on International Trade. Obviously, PASC keeps on opposing the CCFTA. We will keep you informed on the future developments on this crucial issue, and thank everyone who has been involved in putting pressure on their MP against the agreement.
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On Friday April, 16, a narrow majority of MPs (50 vs. 44) approved the Conservative government's undemocratic and under-handed motion to evoke closure on second reading debate of Bill C-2 (an Act to Implement the Canada Colombia Free Trade Agreement). Of the 44 MPs who opposed the Conservative motion, 24 are Liberals. On Monday, April 19, at the end of the final day of debate on Bill C-2, Parliament will vote on approving second reading of Bill C-2.
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Bogotá, April 12, 2010 Honourable PARLIAMENT OF CANADA Subject: Refuse to ratify the Colombia-Canada Free Trade Agreement Honourable Member of Parliament The National Movement of Victims of the State (MOVICE) is a coalition of about 300 organizations, as well as communities, victims of violence and relatives of victims of violence, working for the establishment of the truth, the administration of justice and the full compensation for the persons who have been subject to State crimes. On the eve of the possible ratification of the Free Trade Agreement between Canada and Co
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Deal tabled as assassinations and displacement continue The Conservatives tabled the Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement in Parliament today, reviving a deal many thought better left for dead. Renewed interest in the deal comes weeks after an Amnesty International report found Indigenous peoples in Colombia are at risk of being exterminated by state forces, right wing paramilitary groups and guerrilla organizations. But Canadian officials are ignoring Amnesty’s report, focusing instead on economic aspects of the deal.
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Ottawa – The Council of Canadians is urging Michael Ignatieff to direct Liberal MPs to vote against any effort by the Harper government to reintroduce and fast-track the Canada-Colombia free trade agreement into the House of Commons until an independent assessment of the impact it could have on human and Indigenous rights in Colombia is carried out as recommended by an all-party trade committee in June 2008.
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On February 10, Paramilitaries assassinated two miners from FEDEAGROMISBOL. The Southern Bolivar Agricultural – Mining Federation is a coalition of peasant farming and mining communities in Southern Bolivar province. CPT Colombia has accompanied FEDEAGROMISBOL since the assassination of Alejandro Uribe Chacón in 2006. These communities continue in their nonviolent struggle for the right to their land and dignity. The information below is the public denouncement of the assassination of their two members.
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Colombia: Stop Abuses by Paramilitaries’ Successor Groups HRW Press Release, Frebruary 3 2010. Bogota
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“They are working in search of impunity to protect police who have committed murders”: Yuri Neira This is how a father referred to the case of his son who was murdered during a protest, which has subsequently led to four attempts on the father’s life.
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Montreal, January 28 2009 Att. Jennifer Henderson Canadian Ambassy in Colombia Copy : James Lambert, Director General for Latin America and the Caribbean, Canadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Colombia: Defamation against a Canadian NGO Since 2000, forcibly displaced afro-colombian and mestizo communities from the Lower Atrato region have been carrying out a gradual return to their collective territory.
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We, the undersigned U.S. religious and non-governmental organizations who work on Colombia, are writing to ask that you intervene in the human rights situation in the Bajo Atrato River region of the Chocó. On January 13, Argénito Díaz community leader from Llano Rico was shot dead. This murder follows the killing of three other Afro-Colombians (Manuel Moya, Graciano Blandón and his son Yair) in December 2009, the August 2009 murder of Curvaradó community leader Benjamín Gómez and ‘Chemita’ of the Cacarica community in July 2009.
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