By IANS
Bogota : Colombian Foreign Minister Fernando Araujo Thursday said the government provides protection to more than 1,500 trade unionists and that it had no hand in the death of 60 labour leaders in 2006.
"Violence in Colombia is a problem that affects all of Colombian society; it's not a problem (specific) to members of unions. Here they're attacking us, they're killing all of us," Araujo was quoted as saying by Spanish news agency EFE.
On Tuesday in Madrid, Amnesty International (AI) called on the Colombian government to take step against violence against trade unionists and questioned why the perpetrators of these crimes are not being held accountable when 60 of every 100 trade unionists murdered worldwide are Colombians.
In a report released Tuesday titled "Colombia: Killings, arbitrary detentions, and death threats – the reality of trade unionism in Colombia," AI noted that more than 2,000 killings, 3,400 threats and 138 forced disappearances of trade unionists were documented between January 1991 and December 2006.
It said that "impunity in cases of human rights violations remains at over 90 percent."
Colombia's internal conflict dates back more than four decades and involve two leftist guerrilla armies, government security forces and right-wing paramilitaries.
According to AI, "the conflict provides a useful cover for those seeking to expand and protect economic interests. It is in this context that trade unionists are the target of numerous human rights violations."
The rights group said that union members are repeatedly "labelled as subversive by the security forces and paramilitaries", adding that "such criticisms are often followed by human rights violations which also frequently coincide with periods of labour unrest or negotiations over working conditions."
It noted that "although more than 30,000 paramilitaries have reportedly been demobilized in the last three years … there is strong evidence that paramilitary groups continue to operate and have been responsible for human rights violations including threats, killings, and enforced disappearances."
The rights body also said that "guerrilla forces are responsible for repeated and widespread breaches of international humanitarian law (including) killings of those they consider to be siding with their enemies or who oppose their interests – including trade unionists."
Araujo, who was held hostage by the FARC rebel group before escaping late last year and subsequently being named foreign minister, responded by telling several radio stations that "there were 17,000 murders in Colombia last year," down from 30,000 in 2002, and that therefore these statistics are "falling."
He noted "of the 17,000 who were killed last year, 60 were involved in unions" and "the other 16,940 had nothing to do with unions and they also killed them."
Araujo added that President Alvaro Uribe's government has adopted "a democratic security policy precisely so they don't kill anyone, not unionists, nor journalists, nor workers, nor the unemployed, nor the left, nor the right, so that everyone" can live in a peaceful country.
The AI report comes at a crucial time for Uribe's administration, as the new Democratic majority in the US Congress has already indicated it will not ratify Washington's free-trade treaty with Bogotá until Colombia acts to protect union organizers.