Okay.
In reading the minutes of the testimony, it strikes me that opposition to the agreement is based mostly on ideological grounds and on Colombian internal partisan politics, not on the merits of trade and the long-term contribution that Canada and Canadians can provide to Colombia and Colombians, and vice versa. Canada is a multicultural, multi-ethnic society and we are proud of our values and the tolerance and respect that we have for one another, even if we disagree on many contentious issues.
Since one of the main policies of President Uribe's government is to open Colombia to international trade through free trade agreements, anyone opposing him is trying to make him fail in achieving his policies.
Colombia, like every other country, has its problems. One of the most prevailing is the rule of law. We can write wonderful agreements and laws; the problem is that these laws are not always implemented. Respect for human rights has to be achieved. This has to be a priority for all of us, but it is something that will take time, the concerted effort of all Colombians, and the help of other countries such as Canada.
Many witnesses have spoken about threats and the killing of union leaders. They are right. This happens. But no one has mentioned domestic violence against women and children.
When a kid grows up in a climate of violence, his or her values are totally distorted. They believe that the way to impose a point of view and to prevail is through violence. Through education, we have to change these ideas that permeate Colombian society.
What do we do?
This is the case in Cerrejón in the case of human rights: we are working with Professor John Ruggie of Harvard University, an expert in human rights and a special adviser to the United Nations, to pilot in the field Ruggie's guidelines on grievance mechanisms. If there is not a mechanism to put forward grievances because of human rights violations, there is no way we can do something about them. There has to be an immediate response.
In 2006 Cerrejón began awareness and training sessions with various human rights themes, including voluntary principles and security and human rights. Nearly 14,000 people from local communities, including employees, contractors, public authorities, private security forces, and law enforcement agencies, have attended.
Last year, Cerrejón promoted 17 workshops by the national Red Cross on human rights issues, workshops that were aimed at children. Nearly 1,000 children from the communities attended the sessions in Spanish and Wayuunaiki. Forty-four per cent of the population of La Guajira belongs to aboriginal communities, most Wayuu.
According to Colombian law, indigenous peoples have the right to their own local social and political systems. Therefore, how national law and local customs intersect on the issues of security, conflict resolution, and human rights is key to Cerrejón's everyday compliance with the voluntary principles on security and human rights.
What we say in Cerrejón is that we need to do not only the minimum required but the maximum possible. It will take years to change the mentality, but we have to work every single day of every week of every month so that values change, so that the respect for human life, aboriginal communities, and Afro-Colombians is there.
Let's not fool ourselves: this is going to take years of continuous and steady work. That's why having a trade agreement in place that provides jobs for Colombians as well as Canadians, but that serves the purpose of enforcement of laws for human rights and labour rights, is of the utmost importance for everyone involved.
I am not going to bother you with more data, but I wanted to point out that these issues are not single issues of one day. We have to work for years and invest in education, because otherwise we are not going to achieve what we want to achieve. We are not going to be able to tell ourselves that we have done something for human rights in Colombia, for respect for one another.
Just as a little example, if the armed forces, as built by illiterate conscripts who grew up in a climate of violence, are given a gun and not provided with any training, you cannot expect anything different from what we have been experiencing in Colombia. We have to do something about it. This is part of what Mr. Uribe's government tried to do by having a professional army and training them.
We have to help train Colombians in respect for human rights and for labour rights.
Thank you.