International Trade committee  They are very hard to see. As I was saying earlier, the communities we work with had functional local economies. They produced foodstuffs; they sold them at the local market, and on the national market. As regards a free trade agreement, first, we know that the farmers market in

International Trade committee  What's going on, in concrete terms, is that the army, in collusion with the paramilitary, are displacing peasant communities where lands represent an economic interest in the context of a potential export development project. You have to understand that these communities had a fu

International Trade committee  That might perhaps create more jobs, I don't know, but you have to consider the kind of jobs that would create. In Colombia, in concrete terms, what happens with development projects... Am I too close to the microphone?

International Trade committee  Non, excusez-moi. Mais c'est vraiment--

International Trade committee  Pardon me, but that's pitiful. This way of proceeding is really disrespectful and deplorable.

International Trade committee  If that's what you want to know, I don't know if it's worth the trouble to create those jobs if, to do that, you displace populations and kill women and children.

International Trade committee  Yes. We're really seeing an increase in attacks and stigmatization by members of the government against human rights advocates. President Uribe has accused human rights advocates of being human rights traffickers in the service of terrorism. These are extremely serious charges wh

International Trade committee  Yes. First, with regard to the situation of aboriginal and Afro-Colombian peoples, we know that there are currently five million displaced persons in Colombia. After the Sudan, this is the second country in the world where there are the most displaced persons within a country. M

International Trade committee  They constantly receive threats from the paramilitary who are directly linked to the Colombian government. There's a phenomenal amount of evidence of the connections between the paramilitary strategy and the Colombian government, but I don't have the time or leisure today to deta

International Trade committee  That's a completely different question. My remarks today don't concern the—

International Trade committee  I'd like you to let me finish my answer.

International Trade committee  I'm sorry, I hadn't finished my answer. I was saying that I thought my remarks today concerned the Canada-Colombia free trade agreement, not my support for or opposition to the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement.

International Trade committee  I'm not opposed to the Free Trade Agreement between Canada and the Republic of Colombia as such, if that's your question.

International Trade committee  Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for inviting me to testify before the committee today. The organization I represent has been operating in the field in Colombia since 2003. Our main partner in Colombia is the Comisión Intereclesial de Justicia y Paz, a Colombian human rights