Gavin Marshall (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to incorporate my adjournment speech.

Leave granted.

The incorporated speech read as follows—

I rise tonight to raise the issue of human rights abuses in Colombia and shed some light on what is happening in this country in the hope that some action is taken and that this does not become firmly entrenched into the future.

I’ll start with a recent example.

In April this year an email was circulated to members of two NGOs, trade unionists and catholic priests in Northern Colombia, which read:

‘your name is on a list of undesirable people...who must be eliminated’.

It accused them of being guerrilla auxiliaries or guerrilla members and told them they had been under surveillance.

‘Going down the list, you will be killed one by one...’

It concluded by saying: “We won’t hesitate to kill you; start getting your loved ones ready so that they can bury you”

It was signed by the paramilitary group ‘Black Eagles, North Colombia Bloc’.

These so-called ‘undesirables’ mentioned in the email were;

• workers from the Magdalena Medio Peace and Development Programme, an internationally respected NGO which carries out economic and social development with vulnerable and displaced communities
• workers from Corporacion SEMBRAR, a human rights organization which monitors the human rights situation in the region and which has repeatedly denounced human rights abuses.
• Unionists from the union which represents small-scale farmers and the interests of small-scale independent gold miners in the area. It had campaigned against the arrival of multinational gold mining companies in the area.
• Catholic priests working in the local municipalities of Bolivar.

These threats cannot be taken lightly—as they are more often than not followed up by targeted killings or forced disappearances. Many flee once they have received such threats.

Accusations of links with the guerrilla groups, such as the ones in this email, are a common thread and are often precursors to violent attacks.

These threats are the latest in a context of ongoing harassment and violent persecution of ordinary people in the Bolivar region. Trade unions, NGOs and the communities in the region have repeatedly identified paramilitary groups and the Colombian Armed Forces as responsible.

The common factor that links the victims of these crimes is that they have all been outspoken on issues of justice, poverty, workers’ rights and human rights. They have advocated on behalf of the poor and oppressed in Colombia

Threats and attacks of this nature are by no means unusual in Colombia.

The 40 year old armed conflict results in a particularly serious human rights situation. Abuses are carried out by paramilitary groups, irregular armed groups, guerrillas and by the Colombian armed forces.

Targeted killings, forced disappearances, use of antipersonnel landmines, recruitment of child combatants, and threats against rural communities, trade unionists, human rights defenders, and journalists remain serious problems.

It is staggering to know that over 3.5 million people have been forced from their homes as a result of this violence, making Colombia the country with the second largest number of internally displaced people after Sudan.

Perpetrators of these crimes are almost never brought to justice, with an impunity rate in cases of human rights violations at over 90%.

In Colombia, trade unionists have particularly suffered in standing up for working people.

According to Human Rights Watch, Colombia has the highest rate of violence against trade unionists in the world.

The National Labour School, a Colombian labour rights group, has recorded over 2,500 killings of trade unionists since 1986. In March this year, following a mass rally, 4 trade unionists were killed in one week.

Trade unions in Colombia are active not only in defence of workers rights but also on issues around the operation of transnational corporations, who are attracted to Colombia’s significant oil fields, gold, silver, platinum and iron ore deposits. The country has the largest coal reserves in Latin America.

Human rights organisations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have amply documented the connection that exists between areas with a high incidence of human rights violations and areas of economic interest, with the conflict providing a useful cover for those seeking to expand and protect these interests.

Over 60% of internally displaced people have been forced from areas of mineral, agricultural or other economic importance.

In the case of the South Bolivar region I mentioned earlier, the link between human rights abuse and the protection of these interests can be clearly seen.

The South Bolivar area has an active armed conflict between the guerrillas and state and paramilitary forces.

The civilian population has been subjected to a range of grave human rights abuses, including mass forced displacement, assassinations, rape and other forms of torture. Many of these abuses are committed by warring parties who claim their victims are sympathisers of their enemies.

Like much of the Colombian countryside, poverty levels are high, infrastructure is inadequate to non-existent, education and health services fall far short of meeting needs, and unemployment and underemployment are commonplace.

This region is paradoxically rich in natural resources, being an area of large-scale cattle farming, African palm plantations, timber production as well oil and gold extraction.

All of these attract significant foreign investment to the area.

The rural communities have strongly opposed the gold mining operation of the South African company AngloGold Ashanti. They seek to retain control over the use of their lands, and protect against environmental degradation.

The trade union I mentioned earlier has been campaigning for the rights of the small-scale independent gold miners in the region for several years, which has pitted it against AngloGold Ashanti, and against those who protect the company’s interests.

Alejandro Uribe Chacon, a mining leader and member of the union, was assassinated on September 19, 2006, by members of the Colombian army’s Nueva Granada Anti-Aircraft Battalion. According to Amnesty International, witnesses reported that ‘members of the Nueva Granada Anti-Aircraft Battalion have threatened to kill Union leaders. Soldiers have also reportedly told local residents that their operations aim to guarantee the presence of international corporate mining interests in the area. This is an area in which the gold-mining company AngloGold Ashanti has interests’.

The following year, in March 2007, members of the Nueva Granada Battalion arbitrarily detained 12 members of the Mina Piojo community in Santa Rosa, including a leader of the Union, under the accusation that they were guerrillas.

A few weeks later on April 26, 2007, union leader Teofilo Acuna was arbitrarily detained.

The situation in the South of Bolivar is just one example among many of the persecution of trade unions in Colombia, and of the links between human rights abuse and the presence of transnational corporations.

It also demonstrates how the perpetrators of this violence —in this case the Nueva Granada Anti-Aircraft Battalion —are consciously acting to protect the interests of the mining company.

As I said earlier, there is a common thread when we look at those being punished and persecuted —it is generally ordinary people and those that seek to highlight their plight.

This makes Human rights defenders another group which are targeted. These are the people and organizations that work to ensure a respect for human rights in Colombia, including human rights monitoring, development organisations, associations of displaced people or other vulnerable groups, human rights lawyers, and women’s groups, among others.

Like trade unionists, human rights defenders are a high-risk group, many have been assassinated, been forced into exile or remain in Colombia where threats, harassment and arbitrary detention are commonplace. While there have been some instances of attacks by guerrilla groups, the vast majority are committed by paramilitary and security forces who consider human rights work to be subversive.

Human rights defenders are regarded with suspicion and hostility by authorities who perceive any form of social organisation to be a mobilisation against them.

As they are active in advocacy at a national and international level, they frequently identify perpetrators of violations. Silencing human rights defenders therefore serves to cover up crimes and avoid prosecution of the authors of human rights abuses.

A method of silencing human rights defenders, gaining prevalence in recent years, is the use of malicious prosecutions based on false accusations. The way in which these malicious prosecutions work can be seen in the experience of the Inter-Ecclesiastical Commission of Justice and Peace (CIJP).

The CIJP is an NGO that works with victims of human rights violations, and in particular communities of internally displaced people who have organised themselves into self-denominated humanitarian zones.

In May 2003, the Office of the Attorney General opened a preliminary investigation against five CIJP members. They were charged with rebellion, conspiracy to commit a crime as members of the FARC, and ordering murders and forced disappearances.

During a press conference in August 2003 convened by the then commanding general of the armed forces, those under investigation were accused of being responsible for corruption and for ties with the FARC.

At the beginning of 2005, these were dismissed by the Attorney General’s Office after it was determined that the evidence was based on false testimony.

In 2004, in parallel to the previously described case, the Attorney General’s Office opened another case implicating another 15 persons from the Humanitarian Zones near the Panamanian border. Several of the CIJP members, already investigated in the previous case, were newly implicated through false testimonies in these new proceedings.

The persons being investigated only learned of the case against them in 2006.

Both these prosecutions are based on statements by the same witnesses, statements proven to be false and centred on the fact that these people are working to restore those forcibly displaced 10 years ago to their lands.

Additionally, the Attorney General’s Office has issued arrest warrants and criminal charges against 27 members of the CIJP and members of these same communities, which even includes international volunteers who accompany the communities.

These cases clearly demonstrate the arbitrary nature of many of these failed prosecutions.

Sadly, such cases are commonplace in Colombia. Most demonstrate similar irregularities such as false testimonies by paid witnesses or reintegrated combatants, obstruction to the access of defence, manipulated evidence, and sourceless intelligence reports, not to mention the questionable handling of the cases by the Attorney General’s Office.

The consequences of malicious prosecutions are similar to those resulting from other methods of repression. They create a climate of fear, distrust and prejudice against human rights defenders, and also debilitate NGOs who must concentrate efforts into fighting the charges at the expense of carrying out their work.

Unfortunately, Colombia is often represented in the international media as country in chaos, with so many warring parties that they become indistinguishable from each other. Yet this image does not hold up to close examination. While it is true that there are many actors in the conflict, they can be grouped —very broadly —into two main bands.

The first is made up of the left wing guerrilla groups, predominantly the FARC and the ELN, which formed in the 1960s. They originated from earlier guerrilla movements during the long-standing civil war between liberals and conservatives.

Both guerrilla groups continue to engage in abuses against civilians.

The FARC’s widespread use of antipersonnel landmines has resulted in a dramatic escalation in new reported casualties in recent years, and they continue to engage in kidnappings, the most well-known being presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt.

In opposition to the guerrillas is the State government and paramilitary groups. These paramilitary groups, whose predecessors also arose during the liberal-conservative conflict to protect large landowners’ interests, were formalised in the 1990s under the umbrella of the AUC.

For the past two decades there have been numerous cases before the courts of paramilitary collusion with the Colombian Armed forces.

According to Amnesty International, between 1986-1993 alone an estimated 20,000 people were killed for political reasons, the majority of these by the armed forces and their paramilitary allies.

More recently, the links between paramilitaries and parliamentarians have also come to light.

Dozens of congressmen from President Alvaro Uribe’s coalition, including the president’s own cousin, Senator Mario Uribe, have come under investigation by the Supreme Court for their alleged collaboration with paramilitaries responsible for widespread atrocities.

One of them is the brother of former Foreign Minister Maria Consuelo Araujo, who resigned as a result. President Uribe’s former intelligence chief from 2002 to 2005, Jorge Noguera, is also under investigation for links to paramilitaries.

In 2003, the Colombian government initiated a demobilisation process with the AUC, and claims that paramilitaries no longer exist.

The demobilization has been largely ineffective with the group I mentioned earlier - the Black Eagles - operating in many areas using the same structures and economic base as their AUC predecessors, and often with the same personnel.

Other paramilitaries have been effectively granted an amnesty for past crimes in return for demobilisation, who then again regroup under different names.

The failure of effective demobilisation, and the continuation of human rights violations, has had some repercussions for Colombia at an international level, most particularly in its relationship with the United States.

The United States remains the most influential foreign actor in Colombia.

In 2007 it provided close to US$800 million to the Colombian government, mostly in military aid. Twenty-five percent of US military assistance is formally subject to human rights conditions and the United States also provides financial support for the paramilitary demobilization process.

In April 2007, the US Congress froze $55 million in US assistance due to concerns over the increase in reports of extrajudicial executions by the military and lack of adequate progress in reducing impunity in major cases involving military-paramilitary links.

Similarly, although Colombia concluded free trade negotiations with the United States in 2006, US congress has indicated that it will not consider passing the Free Trade Agreement until there is “concrete evidence of sustained results on the ground” with regard to impunity for violence against trade unionists and others.

The relationship between Colombia and Australia is modest, but expanding.

There is cooperation on a range of international issues including agricultural trade reform, the environment, transnational crime and disarmament.

Colombia’s role in the Asia-Pacific has increased in recent years. Colombia is a member of the Cairns Group, of the Pacific Basin Economic Council and a member of two APEC working groups. It is seeking full membership of APEC. Like Australia, it also participates in the Forum for East Asia and Latin America Cooperation.

Australia and Colombia’s commercial relations are strongest in the mining, energy and education sectors, with two-way trade between the two countries totalling A$51 million in 2007.

Significant Australian investments in Colombia include BHP Billiton’s refining plant and coal and nickel mining ventures. It has a 30% share in Cerrejon Norte, which is the largest open-cut coal mine in the world. Sedgman Coal is also involved in coal washing at the mine. Rio Tinto has interests in coal and aluminium extraction.

Given Australia’s ties with Colombia, it is appropriate to ask how we can support the respect for human rights in that country.

Government, commerce and the public all have a role to play.

All Australians can pressure the Colombian Government to take decisive action to confront and dismantle paramilitary groups and investigate and break their links with the security forces in line with repeated UN recommendations.

We all need to press the Colombian State to respect civil and political rights such as the presumption of innocence, not initiating

proceedings based on uncorroborated reports or manipulated testimony, and to ensure the right to defence.

We must urge the Colombian Government, in accordance with its international obligations, to actively recognize and support human rights defenders.

With regards to the individuals and organizations I have mentioned who have suffered threats, violence or persecution, the Colombian Government must take appropriate measures to guarantee their safety and to carry out full and impartial investigations into these threats and violence, the results of which should be made public and those responsible brought to justice.

Commerce can play a vital role. As I stated earlier, the link between human rights abuses and the protection of commercial interests can be clearly seen.

Given that large commercial projects can play a destructive role in the way human rights abuses occur, through financial or security links given to these projects by Government and paramilitary forces, we must ensure that these companies take human rights seriously.

The importance of such large economic projects means we must do all we can to ensure that these are not leading to an ‘anything goes’ corporate mentality which takes advantage of weak and corrupt states.

One only need look at Ok Tedi and AWB to see two prime examples of how we can fail in this regard.

This is particularly true for companies operating in the resource sector, where this pattern has been replicated in places such as the Philippines, Indonesia and PNG amongst many other examples in Asia but also in Africa and Latin America.

Australian companies must respect the rights of members of the communities in which they operate.

I welcome the motion passed by the Senate this week which calls for exactly that and I note that it received support from all sides. Given this support, and the need for such action, I look forward to working on this issue to make sure action and results comes of these principles.

In closing, Colombia must move forward, and we can all play a part in making sure this happens.