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Colombia count

Ten reasons why Canada should ditch the free trade deal with Colombia.[rssbreak]

1. More labour leaders are killed every year in Colombia than in the rest of the world combined – 474 since 2002 and 2,865 in the last 25 years.

2. Colombia’s labour laws stifle workers’ rights. Its rate of unionization is less than 5 per cent, the lowest of any country in the western hemisphere.

3. Few of the crimes against workers and other civilians have been investigated.

4. Thousands of “demobilized” paramilitaries have formed new, deadly groups.

5. Sixty-two criminal networks control economic activities and political institutions in many jurisdictions

6. Twenty-seven high-ranking army officers were accused in 2008 of kidnapping and executing civilians, dressing them as FARC guerrillas.

7. Colombia’s unions have said no to the NAFTA model because it will cause more poverty and unemployment.

8. Signing a deal with Uribe will legitimize state terrorism and undermine the struggle for democracy.

9. In 2008, Parliament’s Standing Committee on International Trade pushed for an impartial human rights assessment before any agreement is signed.

10. Barack Obama said he opposed trade pact during the 2008 U.S. election and Democrats in Congress have voted to nix it.

Adapted from info provided by the Canadian Labour Congress and Human Rights Watch.

PLUS: Stephen Harper’s Colombia cover-up

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