Colombia still needs human rights monitoring despite peace deal

UNISON’s has welcomed the peace agreement in Colombia as “a major achievement that could lead to real, lasting progress for ordinary Colombians”. But the union’s hed of international affairs Nick Crook also urged the international community to put in place “effective human rights monitoring” in what remains a sensitive time in the South American country. The Colombian government and the Farc rebel group signed their “final, full and definitive” peace accord in Havana on Wednesday, after four years of talks. It ends a 52-year conflict that has killed an estimated 220,000 people and displaced millions. Under the terms, the Farc will give up its armed struggle and join the legal political process. The accord also covers land reform, justice for victims of the conflict and their families, land distribution and relocation of the forcibly displaced in rural areas, and a united front against drug trafficking. President Juan Manuel Santos is now set to call a referendum, on 2 October, calling on Colombians to endorse the deal. But with right-wing former president Alvaro Uribe leading a campaign against the agreement, public opinion is still divided. UNISON will continue to work with Justice for Colombia, which is now recognised as official advisers to the peace process, to build support for the agreement in the run-up to the referendum. Throughout the conflict, the Colombian government has tended to class all activists as Farc guerrillas. As a result, more than 5...
Source: UNISON Health and safety news - Category: Occupational Health Authors: Tags: News colombia international working internationally Source Type: news