The civil war in Colombia Continues, with human right abuses occurring on an almost daily basis. Opposition politicians, human rights defenders, trade unionists, indigenous people and journalists continue to be regularly assassinated. And the perpetrators continue to enjoy almost complete impunity. The European Union wants to reward Colombia with a Free Trade Agreement. For three years the US Congress has refused to ratify a similar US-Colombia Agreement due to the ongoing human rights abuses. Please come and receive an update from US-Colombia Agreement due to the ongoing human rights abuses. Please come and receive an update from Colombian civil society leaders and hear from Members of the European Parliament who have recently visited Colombia.

The hearing takes place on 7 December 2010 at 10H00 in room ASP1G2, European Parliament, Brussels

Guests from Colombia :

 Dr. Clara Lopez Obregon, leader of the ‘Polo Democratico’, Colombia’s principal opposition party
 Congressman Hernando Hernandez, representative of Colombia’s indigenous people in the Colombian Congress
 Mr Tarcisio Mora, leader of the CUT trade union confederation, Colombia’s largest union organization
 Dr. Lina Malagón, Colombian Commission of Jurists, specialist in compliance with UN and ILO standards
 Dr. Reinaldo Villalba, one of Colombia’s leading human rights lawyers from the ‘Jose Alvear Restrepo’ Collective, and currently responsible for the collective case against the DAS ;

The following MEPs are also speaking :

Bernd Lange, Ana Gomes, Richard Howitt, Evelyn Regner, Ole Christensen

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