International Trade committee  Our position has always been clear. The human rights impact assessment must happen before the deal goes any further, and it's not that this is not something wishful and aspirational. In our view, it's an essential part of the due diligence of Canada before we enter into such an a

International Trade committee  Absolutely, it's not possible to put a number on it, but it is a very big problem. The numbers and the instances, for instance, of death threats and attacks Amnesty has been documenting against trade unionists and lawyers and indigenous activists over the last year have been inc

International Trade committee  I think that's the more usual concern. Are demobilized and disenfranchised former fighters on both sides of a conflict moving into generalized criminality? You see murders and robbery and those sorts of things increase. What we're seeing here, though, is something beyond that. We

International Trade committee  It's certainly criminal; it's just not only criminal.

International Trade committee  That's one of a multitude of reports, yes.

International Trade committee  I absolutely can. I don't have the specifics here, but I know those cases exist. I would highlight, as a follow-up on that DAS concern, that as a result, DAS is no longer providing security to human rights defenders. Instead the program has had to resort to making use of privat

International Trade committee  That possibility is very real. As a result, many human rights defenders are refusing that protection because they feel relying on the protection will increase the dangers they face.

International Trade committee  Absolutely.

International Trade committee  Clearly, I think we have been consistent in saying there are three players in the human rights crisis in Colombia right now. Certainly the FARC, the guerrillas, are responsible for abuses, the paramilitary and the recycled paramilitary groups with their links to the military are

International Trade committee  I would agree with it, and I think some of the specific individual cases I highlighted--recent urgent actions that Amnesty has issued--highlight the direct connection between paramilitary threats and violence and economic interests, their determination to speak out against indivi

International Trade committee  We were aware of the fact that the side deals exist, and from a human rights perspective, we've looked more closely at the labour side deal, given that labour rights are human rights and certainly many of the aspects covered in that deal do touch on human rights concerns. We thin

International Trade committee  I think you should be reading as much as you can. I know that's an enormous task because Colombia is a country where the wealth of material and information is considerable. I think what you want to focus on is information from sources and organizations that are independent, impar

International Trade committee  I don't know that particular study, but I certainly do share those concerns. We have said all along that the reason we need to have a human rights impact assessment is to understand those sorts of concerns and then make decisions as to whether it could be possible. Be it in the c

International Trade committee  I'm sure the explanations for that would be a multitude of different motivations. I think, number one, it's important to highlight that many very studiously seek not to become involved--not to become involved in either side of that conflict.

International Trade committee  I think it absolutely would be the case for some. For others, it would be because they feel terrorized and intimidated. For others, it just seems like maybe it would be a fine thing to do. For others, there may still be a bit of ideology involved.