{"id":6087,"date":"2015-10-02T12:00:49","date_gmt":"2015-10-02T11:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=6087"},"modified":"2015-10-02T12:00:49","modified_gmt":"2015-10-02T11:00:49","slug":"justice-for-colombia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=6087","title":{"rendered":"Justice for Colombia"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Unite delegate Jim Kelly spoke on the last day of the Labour Party Conference this week (September 30) in support of Colombian trade unionists whose struggle goes beyond anything we could even begin to\u00c2\u00a0 imagine. For them, state violence is a daily reality.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI had the honour of travelling to Colombia over the summer on a delegation organised by Justice for Colombia and it is something that will stay with me for a very long time,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Kelly said.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bYou can hear the figures and the stories, but meeting with the trade unionists on the front line, speaking with mothers of children killed by the army, travelling to areas of extreme poverty, to areas controlled by paramilitaries, has made it all so much more real,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added.<\/p>\n

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Kelly highlighted “the commitment, the conviction, the dedication\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 of the people he met in their struggles for justice, for workers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 rights and for peace.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThey are an inspiration, an example to follow for our struggles here. These people do not want charity, they want solidarity, and we need to work together with them, together with Justice for Colombia, to raise awareness, to pressure our government, and to pressure the Colombian authorities on all cases of abuses, like that of Miguel Beltran and Huber Ballesteros, and more generally, so that people can live in peace in Colombia,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

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Kelly explained how only two weeks ago, Didier, the son of a trade union leader from Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s sister union in Colombia, was shot five times. He is now in hospital in serious condition.<\/p>\n

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He also went to visit imprisoned union leader Huber Ballesteros in his prison cell in Bogota \u00e2\u20ac\u201c he was imprisoned over two years ago whilst leading a national strike.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis is somebody being punished just for being a trade unionist \u00e2\u20ac\u201c two years in prison, no trial, and on top of that he is being denied the treatment he needs for his diabetes,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bBut we are not talking about a charity case,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bHuber is not sitting on his hands whilst in prison. He has recently published an organising manual for activists, he has been organising the prisoners, and campaigning for improved conditions in the prisons across Colombia.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Kelly recounted meeting David Ravelo, a human rights activist who has been in prison since 2010.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI will never forget what he said to me when I asked him if he regretted getting involved in human rights work. \u00e2\u20ac\u0098Never,\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 he said. This is a man sentenced to more than 18 years in prison on made up murder charges.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bDespite the great progress on the peace process, be assured that the struggle is going to be a long one,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Kelly added. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bIn one meeting with the Colombian government, a representative celebrated the fact that only<\/em> 26 trade unionists were killed in 2013! We all know that there is nothing to celebrate until not a single trade unionist is killed, and not a single one remains locked up behind bars.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bJustice for Colombia is the trade union campaign and we are proud of its achievements \u00e2\u20ac\u201c its work to release prisoners, and its involvement in the peace process,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he concluded. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe must give it all our possible support. Together we will bring an end to the violence in Colombia.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Find out more about Justice for Colombia here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unite delegate Jim Kelly spoke on the last day of the Labour Party Conference this week (September 30) in support of Colombian trade unionists whose struggle goes beyond anything we could even begin to\u00c2\u00a0 imagine. For them, state violence is a daily reality.     \u00e2\u20ac\u015bI had the honour of travelling to Colombia over the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6088,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[158,399],"wps_subtitle":"Labour urged to support persecuted trade unionists","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6087"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6087"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6087\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6089,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6087\/revisions\/6089"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}