NAFTA and CAFTA
Colombia’s horrific labor abuses are among a long list of reasons to oppose the Colombia FTA
Colombia's Free Trade Agreement and labour rights abuses
Authors:
Publisher:
Public Citizen, 2008
In 2008, Colombia remains the most dangerous country in the world in which to be a trade unionist. The government has not been a neutral or benevolent actor in Colombia’s human rights nightmare. This short paper outlines key talking points surrounding the Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and labour rights abuses. The Colombia FTA investment rules replicate the extreme investor privileges and investor-state private enforcement found in NAFTA and CAFTA.
The FTA allows any foreign investor operating in Colombia (including from China, Europe and beyond) to directly sue the U.S. government in World Bank and UN tribunals over government actions that investors believe undermine their expected future profits. The author discuss how government ties to right-wing paramilitaries and union murders have been exposed and highlights the investment rules that promote offshoring of U.S. jobs and hurt Colombia’s development.
Additional areas highlighted in this paper include:
- FTAs do not increase net US exports
- FTA agriculture rules would displace hundreds of thousands of Colombian campesino farmers
- a description of the Uribe government’s systematic attack on Afro-Colombians and their civil and land rights
- threats to US national security
