Human Rights and Free Trade

By Navdeep Bains

First published in Global Currents, Fall 2008. Download a .pdf version of the newsletter here.

Canada needs to trade in order to generate economic wealth and maintain a high quality of life for its citizens. Successive governments of all political stripes have recognized this fact and as a result Canada has signed numerous free trade agreements designed to open markets and encourage growth.

Negotiating trade deals, however, is an expensive and time-consuming affair. Governments have to prioritize, and carefully select the countries that they will focus on. Agreements have political, social and economic implications for both countries, so all these elements have to be taken into account when allocating scarce resources.

Which brings us to Colombia.

In June 2007, the Minister of International Trade announced the start of trade negotiations with Colombia. Representing 0.1% of our total exports, Colombia does not rank high on the list of Canadian export markets. A trade agreement may well change that, but economic considerations form only part of the rationale to begin talks.

The start of negotiations was conveniently timed to precede the Prime Minister's visit to the country. All very nice material for speeches and toasts, but beyond the state dinners lies a darker side to these talks. Colombia is widely seen as having one of the worst human rights records in the western hemisphere. According to Human Rights Watch, the country leads the world in the killing of labour leaders. Few of these cases are ever solved. Of the 2,100 labour murders since 1991, only 37 have ended in convictions. The culprits are widely believed to be the country's shadowy paramilitary organizations.

What makes the situation even worse is that the groups seem to have direct links to high-level government officials with allegations touching some of the Colombian President's closest advisors. All of these are serious considerations and yet the Conservative Government is not even paying them lip service. The Prime Minister went as far as suggesting that it was ‘ridiculous' to address human rights considerations in the context of this deal.

This was not the view held by the U.S. Congress, who voted to suspend consideration of a Free Trade Agreement with Colombia until these issues are addressed. During a speech in New York, the Prime Minister implored the United States to reconsider this decision and ratify the agreement. President Bush seized on this support and quoted Mr. Harper in a speech of his own. Inexplicably both George Bush and Stephen Harper seem committed to working together to get these deals signed as soon as possible regardless of human rights concerns.

"I support free trade and believe in its benefits but I will not blindly approve of negotiations which completely ignore issues of human rights." In June, the House of Commons' Standing Committee on International Trade, submitted a report outlining what the Government should do to address issues of human rights and the environment before a deal with Colombia is signed. The Government undermined this work by concluding an agreement only two weeks prior to the release of the report. However the deal has yet to be formally signed and we strongly encourage the Government to address the issues in the report if they want the support of Parliament.

Canada is a trading nation but one of the most important things we export is our values. Our country needs a principled trade policy that balances economic opportunities with a respect for fundamental freedoms. Canadians need to know who we're doing business with.

The Hon. Navdeep Singh Bains, P.C., M.P. is the Liberal Critic for International Trade and Member of Parliament