The Northern TUC and UNISON Northern sent greetings of solidarity to the social mobilisations organised by the Minga of Social and Communitarian Resistance on July 18th and 19th. Tens of thousands of indigenous community members, trade unionists, afro-Colombians, campesinos, internal refugees, students and human rights defenders will take to the streets to draw attention to the systematic human rights violations which continue to take place in Colombia, and the country’s social crisis caused by hardline security policies and neoliberal economic and social policies.
The events will take place under the slogan ‘What independence?’, in reference to the official state celebrations taking place on 20th July to celebrate 200 years since the declaration of Colombian independence from Spain.
Political violence and extrajudicial executions are rife in Colombia, and the country routinely tops the statistics as the country with by far the highest number of murders of trade unionists and human rights defenders in the world. Between January and June this year, 31 trade unionists were murdered. Since President Alvaro Uribe came to power in 2002 557 trade unionists have been murdered. The vast majority of the murders are by paramilitaries allied to the state, or state forces themselves.
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/2448-indigenous-justice-threatened-in-colombia
The Northern TUC and UNISON Northern call upon the Colombian government and police to respect the right of Colombian citizens to hold peaceful protests, and ensure the safety of all of those participating in the marches and cultural events.