 March 2001
American Friends Service Committee Peacework Magazine Patrica Watson, Editor Sara Burke, Assistant Editor Pat Farren, Founding Editor 2161 Massachusetts Ave. Telephone number: Fax number:
pwork@igc.org Peacework has been published monthly since 1972, intended to serve as a source of dependable information to those who strive for peace and justice and are committed to furthering the nonviolent social change necessary to achieve them. Rooted in Quaker values and informed by AFSC experience and initiatives, Peacework offers a forum for organizers, fostering coalition-building and teaching the methods and strategies that work in the global and local community. Peacework seeks to serve as an incubator for social transformation, introducing a younger generation to a deeper analysis of problems and issues, reminding and re-inspiring long-term activists, encouraging the generations to listen to each other, and creating space for the voices of the disenfranchised. Views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of the AFSC. |
White House Declares It Doesn't Need to Certify Colombia on Human Rights On January 17, Colombian paramilitary forces killed 26 men from the town of Chengue, and then set fire to the village. (Washington Post, 1/27/01). This massacre was only one of many in Colombia during January 2001. Last year, while Plan Colombia was still in the making, many members of Congress expressed fears regarding the human rights situation in Colombia. They added to the legislation a set of requirements calling for the US president to "certify" that the Colombian government was actively working to improve the human rights situation: cutting military ties with paramilitary groups and prosecuting military personnel accused of human rights violations. However, several House leaders added a loophole: the president could waive the human rights conditions in the interest of "national security." This process was to take place once for each fiscal year of the package (2000 and 2001). Last August, Clinton certified that Colombia had met one requirement; he then waived the rest, allowing US aid to be released. The State Department began the second certification process in December, and, after meeting with several human rights groups, made their recommendation to the White House. We expected Clinton to make his announcement before leaving office. Instead he comitted a legal coup of the entire process. White House lawyers had found a loophole in the legislation which they claimed allowed the US government to skip the certification process altogether for FY01. This manipulation of legal language sends yet another message to the Colombian government that human rights is not a priority for the US. A recent report by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the Washington Office on Latin America shows that the Colombian government has not made progress on any of the human rights conditions, especially those which mandate cutting ties with right-wing paramilitary groups and bringing military personnel accused of human rights violations to justice in civilian courts. Now is the time to write to your congressperson and strongly voice your opinion on US policy towards Colombia. The human rights conditions can not be certified, should not be waived, and certainly deserve the attention of our government. Congress and the new administration will be deciding the parameters of aid to Colombia for FY02--including whether human rights should be a priority--and we must make it clear to them that the US has a responsibility to the citizens of countries impacted by our policies.
From the Latin America Working Group, 110 Maryland Ave NE Box
15, Suite 203, Washington DC 20002; 202/546-7010; www.lawg.org
The US War on Drugs: Chemical Welfare on the Colombian People According to a report from the Colombian Labor Monitor dated December 28, 2000, eighty percent of children of the Indian reservation of Aponte have fallen ill since the spraying of their fields. The children have ulcers all over their bodies. Doctors are only able to treat ten percent of the children due to lack of medicine. The children also suffer with rashes, fever, diarrhea, and eye infections. The herbicides Round-Up Ultra and Cosmoflux used by the US financed and coordinated program is making the children sick. The spraying began on November 3, 2000 and continued for 10 consecutive days. The spray not only caused illness in children, it also poisoned the land and the water. According to Colombian environmentalists, "Crops don't just turn yellow, they shrivel and blacken." The crops--yucca, corn, barley and beans--have all been destroyed. The farmers are left without a way to support themselves. The spraying is justified by the US as necessary to stop cocoa production. Round-Up Ultra is manufactured in Monsanto and classified as "most poisonous" by the World Health Organization (WHO). According to WHO, it causes burning eyes dizziness, and respiratory problems. People in affected areas have also complained of intestinal problems and skin irritation. What can we conclude? Monsanto is getting rich at the expense of the Colombian people and environment. The US War on Drugs is a war on poor people and the environment.
--Virginia Pratt, Jamaica Plain, MA 
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