Canadian companies part of Colombia's human rights crisis .

[Judi Lynn]

Canadian companies part of Colombia's human rights crisis .
Thursday, 25 October 2012 09:35 Joey O'Gorman

Canadian resource exploitation companies who have been moving into Colombia are contributing to what Amnesty International has called "a stunning human rights crisis" for the Latin American country's vulnerable indigenous population.

Kathy Price of Amnesty International's Canada branch this month attended the eighth Congress of the National Indigenous Organization of Colombia. "We heard it all in the discussions, there was great concern about the Canadian companies moving on to indigenous territory, and the impact of resource extraction projects. Concessions have been granted to these companies with no consultation and no prior consent given by the indigenous people of the land. We heard the indigenous people expressing grave concerns," said Price.

According to the human rights worker, the armed conflict is "used as a cover" to gain access to areas of economic interest, where "severe human rights violations take place." An article published by Amnesty reported that indigenous people told of "displacement, killings, rape and other human rights violations carried out with the seeming intent to clear lands for mines and other economic projects."

"We need to see if Canadian companies are benefitting from human rights violations. Are they profiting from land appropriated from vulnerable indigenous people. Are these things happening?" asks Price. "We need to ask what is Canadian policy in regard to this?"

More:
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/26689-canadian-companies-part-of-colombias-human-rights-crisis.html

[Joe Shlabotnik]

1. Well considering

the Harper government's abysmal record on transparency, utter contempt for democratic dissent and gold rush mentality to exploit it's own natural resources at home. I won't be holding my breath for any official answers.