- Conference
- 2016 National Delegate Conference
- Date
- 1 January 2016
- Decision
- Carried
Conference notes that the peace talks between the government of Colombian and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) which began in 2012 are likely to be concluded in 2016.
Conference joins with the Colombian trade union movement and civil society in supporting the peace process. However, like them we share the concern that lasting peace can only be achieved through policies aimed at achieving real social and economic justice.
Conference notes that Colombia has the highest level of social inequality in the Andean region and a third of Colombians live in poverty. Colombia is the third most unequal country in Latin America and tenth in the world. Afro-Colombians are far likelier than other Colombian workers to earn less than the minimum wage and comprise more than 50 percent of the country’s poor, although they are a quarter of Colombia’s population. Poverty is higher amongst rural Colombians who also make up many of the 4.5 million internally displaced people.
Conference notes that this year also marks the fifteenth anniversary of ‘Plan Colombia’, the United States’ multi-billion dollar military and police assistance package to Colombia. The Plan, initiated at a time when the Colombian government and FARC guerrillas were in peace talks, has been widely criticised for derailing those talks, setting back the peace process and escalating violence in the country. US military aid is part and parcel of an unjust economic strategy to further open up Colombia to multinational corporations, exploiting Colombian workers and the environment.
The armed conflict – which is the longest running in Latin America, having spanned over 60 years – must, therefore, be recognised as the product of political, social and economic inequality. A peace which seeks to end the armed conflict but does not address structural issues will not last. This is why UNISON actively support the work of human rights organisation NOMADESC and SINTRAUNICOL (an education union) in articulating a need for a ‘transformative peace’ consisting of a short, medium and long-term plan which includes the demilitarisation of Colombian territories; construction of alternative development plans; strengthening of communities; and the participation of the Colombian people, including peaceful actions and mobilisations, people’s forums and popular education.
Practical UIDF solidarity projects with these organisations, coordinated by the Northern Region, have continued over several years in the Valle del Cauca area and seen the development of an alternative ‘cultural university’ that addresses the requirement for education strategies that meet the needs of communities facing human rights abuses. The success of this approach is demonstrated in the high levels of participation in the annual Women’s Assembly (held in Cali), which consists of trade unions and social movement groups from across the region, many of whom have attended capacity building workshops as part of these projects.
Conference further notes that despite the peace talks, human rights abuses are rife in Colombia with human rights defenders, trade unionists, Afro-Colombians and indigenous people being the main victims. Conference notes that 17 trade unionists were murdered in Colombia in 2015. Of the more than 3,000 trade unionists killed over the past 20 years, 98% of cases had not been investigated by the Colombian authorities nor have the perpetrators been brought to justice. Human rights lawyers CCAJAR, thanks to funding from UNISON’s International Development Fund (UIDF), have successfully brought several cases proving the complicity between employers and paramilitaries in the assassination of trade union leaders but much more needs to be done. The peace agreement must address this issue as well as collective reparations for the families of murdered trade unionists and communities that have been victims of the violence.
Conference expresses its concern that Colombia has over 5,000 political prisoners including many trade unionists. When a UNISON delegation visited the FENSUAGRO agricultural workers union leader Huber Ballesteros in La Picota prison in December 2015 he had been held for 28 months without trial. His case is not unusual. The peace agreement must lead to an amnesty and compensation for political prisoners.
Conference further notes that political prisoners have very poor access to healthcare provision and the limited care provided is not of the quality expected to meet the human rights of these prisoners, with examples of prisoners waiting weeks with life threatening conditions in severe pain for treatment.
Conference recognises the excellent work done by Justice for Colombia in raising these issues within the British and Irish trade union movements and with politicians and political parties. Justice for Colombia was set up by the TUC and its affiliates and is dependent upon funding from the trade union movement.
Conference instructs the National Executive Council to:
1) Continue to provide support to the Colombian trade union movement and human rights organisations through the UIDF;
2) Develop further links with the ANTHOC the national trade union representing workers in the health sector;
3) Campaign with Justice for Colombia and Colombian civil society for any peace agreement to be accompanied by meaningful policy measures addressing social and economic injustice;
4) Lobby the UK and European Union to provide international development support for these measures;
5) Put pressure on the Colombian authorities to end the culture of impunity with regard to the assassination of trade unionists and human rights defenders and to provide effective protection to all individuals at risk;
6) Campaign for the release of all political prisoners;
7) Encourage regions and branches to affiliate and make donations to Justice for Colombia.
