Government stops aid to Colombian army

01.04.09

UNISON has welcomed an announcement by the government that it is changing the way that it gives aid to Colombia.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband announced today that, instead of trying to deal with the drugs trade by giving substantial funds to the Colombian military, it will be providing funding for non-government organisations in the country.

Mr Milliband said: “The government shares the concerns of many in the House that there are officers and soldiers of the Colombian armed forces who have been involved in, or allowed, abuses ...

“We will continue to offer our political, and, where possible, financial and practical support to UN projects that aim to help promote human rights adherence within the Colombian armed forces.

“Our bilateral human rights projects with the Colombian Ministry of Defence will cease.”

And he added that: “With British trade union partners, we will continue to look at ways in which the UK can promote labour relations in Colombia.”

UNISON general secretary Dave Prentis said: “We welcome the shift from military aid to supporting NGOs in the fight against injustice, and we believe the Columbian government needs to do more to put human rights first.”

In November, as the country re-applied for a renewal of its EU trade preferences, Mr Prentis wrote to the European Commission to call on it to investigate the Colombian government’s complicity in murders, disappearances and the torture of thousands of people.

It is currently the most dangerous country in the world to be a trade unionist. Between 2002 and 2008, more than 600 trade unionists in the country were murdered - more than in the rest of the world put together.

And when Ana Lucia Pinzon, the leader of Colombian public sector union Fenaltrase, addressed UNISON’s national delegate conference last June, she highlighted the situation and asked delegates to campaign to end the military grant.