Colombia: Murder and Impunity

  • More trade unionists have been murdered in Colombia in the last six years than in the rest of the world combined.
  • In 2008, 49 trade unionists were murdered, a 25% increase from 2007. Through November 2009, more than 2,700 trade unionists have been assassinated in the last two decades.March 6th protest in Bogota
  • Virtually no one is prosecuted or convicted for these murders, with approximately a 96% impunity rate.
  • Colombia is the largest recipient of U.S. foreign aid outside of the Middle East, Iraq and Afghanistan, with more than 60% of aid going to the Colombian military.
  • Colombia and the U.S. have signed a Free Trade Agreement that is now pending in Congress.

USLEAP campaigns to end the killings of trade unionists, to end impunity and to oppose current U.S. trade and aid policy toward Colombia.

Colombia: Progress on Impunity?

How much progress has there been under President Uribe in addressing violence against trade unionists and impunity? Check out our new Fact Sheet: Murders of Trade Unionists and Impunity Under Uribe.

Colombia: Murder and Impunity

USLEAP Releases 2008 Annual Impunity Report on Colombia

Systematic Violence Requires Strategic Justice: Ongoing Impunity in Assassinations of Trade Unionists in Colombia


Visit USLEAP's updated Colombia FTA Toolkit, which offers various options including an "Impunity Fact Sheet" and "Talking Points Against the Colombia FTA."



Check out our collaborative labor rights blog, Labor is Not a Commodity!

 
 

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