13 Amendments of Godelieve QUISTHOUDT-ROWOHL related to 2012/0000(RSP)
Amendment 4 #
Recital A
A. whereas the Trade Agreement (given the importance of historical and cultural links, the TA) between the European Union and Colombia and Peru, aims at opening markets for inter alia goods, services, government procurement and investmentto promote the economic integration between the Parties and to promote a comprehensive economic development with the objective of reducing poverty and creating new employment opportunities, improve working conditions, as well as raising living standards by liberalising and expanding trade and investment between their territories; as well as the commitment to implement the TA in accordance with the objective of sustainable development, including the promotion of economic progress, the respect for labour rights and the protection of the environment, in accordance with the international commitments adopted by the Parties;
Amendment 7 #
Recital B
B. whereas the European Union is the second biggest trading partner of the Andean regionColombia and Peru and whereas the planned TA provides for total liberalisation of trade in industrial products and fisheries, which could increase both Colombian GDP up to 1.3% and Peruvian GDP by 0.7% in the long term, according to an independent Sustainability Impact Assessment study;
Amendment 19 #
Recital I
I. whereas, despite these vast efforts, in order to achieve the full completion of the high standards set out and claimed by the individual citizens, the organisations of the civil society, the opposition parties and the government, there is still a substantial work to be done both in Colombia and Peru, especially regarding the effective implementation of the new legislative framework which intends to solve old problems yet not totally solved, related to long standing problems of poverty, violence and corruption, civil war (more than 50 years, in the case of Colombia), illegal armed groups, drug trafficking, unsolved murders, impunity, lack of labour and civil rightsillegal armed groups, drug trafficking, impunity and land dispossession;
Amendment 23 #
Recital J
Amendment 39 #
Paragraph 5
5. Calls on the Civil society organisations, both in the Andean Countries and in the European Union to participate in the monitoring mechanisms established in the TA, under the title of Trade and Sustainable Development; demandcalls the governments involved to set up as soon as possible the legal framework for the domestic mechanisms and the dialogue with civil societies, if they do not exist, including a substantial information and advertising campaign in order to maximise the participation of the interested groups or persons on the monitoring framework of the Civil Society Mechanism; suggests six months for the set up of these procedures after the entry into force of the Agreement, instead of one year as settled in the TA;
Amendment 42 #
Draft motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Recalls the importance establishing the representative domestic advisory mechanisms, as fixed in article 281 of the TA, with the participation of trade unions, employer representatives or other relevant stakeholders, like NGOs, which shall play a mandatorytake part in the observation of the implementation of the TA, especially in the areas of labour and sustainable development, with the right to be regularly consult and to be consulted as needed, to be able to bring forward complaints within a mandatory and institutionalized complaint mechanism, as well as recommendations and suggestions, including a proposal to have independent exchange of views with their EU equivalents;
Amendment 45 #
Paragraph 7
7. In order to fully accomplish the high standards in HRs advanced by the TA and to which both the Andean governments and the European Union are committed, suggests to the parties involved to swiftly establish dedicated Domestic Advisory Group (DAG) on HRs and Democratic Principles, which should accompany and monitor the implementation of this or other TAs, and work as an effective internal consultation body to the domestic offices that participate in the Committee on Trade of the TA, using as model for its functioning the legal framework envisaged in the TA for the participation of the civil society in the Subcommittee on Trade and Sustainable Development; calls upon the parties of the TA to guarantee these DAGs the same level of binding involvement for civil society as in the Free Trade Agreement with South Korea, including a formalised and institutionalised complaint mechanism; furthermore calls upon the parties to ensure the full independence of the DAGs, also as regards their own choice of members of the DAG;
Amendment 51 #
Paragraph 10
10. Supports the Colombian government efforts on fighting impunity and murders against trade unionists or HRs defenders, which is translated, for example, in an increase of the number of investigators at the General Prosecutors Office (FGN), that specifically in the case of the investigation of crimes directed against trade unionist grew from 100 investigators in 2010 to 243 investigators in 2011; also according to ILO, between 2010 and June 2011 there were 88 sentences, 483 citizens condemned with crimes against trade unionists and 355 arrests; in this respect, underlines the importance of the "Special Protection Program" (SPP) which gives, at the present, State protection to more than 11.08.500 citizens, including trade unionists (2413%), Municipal Councillors (11%),30%) and HRs defenders (18%) and journalists (45%); this program went from a budget of 10.5 million euros in 20102 to more than 120 million euros in 2011; notes that none of the citizens included in this SPP has been murdered;
Amendment 56 #
Paragraph 11
11. Welcomes the references to the importance of the concepts of "trade for sustainable development" and to "the promotion of fair and equitable trade", as stated respectively in articles 271 and 324 of the TA; requsuggests fromto the parties to facilitate trade in goods that contribute to sustainable development, including goods that are the subject of schemes such as fair and ethical trade and those involving corporate social responsibility and accountability, such as the "fair trade", "rainforest alliance", "UTZ Certified", "BSCI" or other similar schemes;
Amendment 58 #
Paragraph 12
12. UrgesRequests to the parties to provide sufficient technical and financial capacities in order to guarantee the full compliance with the sustainability standards under the TA and to provide for the full review, monitoring and assessment of the implementation of the chapter for trade and sustainable development;
Amendment 62 #
Paragraph 14
Amendment 69 #
Paragraph 15
15. Strongly welcomes the new "Victims and Land Restitution Law" (also known as "Ley 1448") which came into effect in Colombia on 1st of January 2012, guaranteeing financial compensation and restitution of land for the almost 4 million of victims of the country’s armed conflict and violence over the past 50 years; emphasises the massive financial effort of the Colombian Government, which is estimated in more than 25 billion US dollars for the next ten years, representing about 160 million Euros/month on the next 10 years; underlines the need for thorough monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of this law, in close consultation with civil society;
Amendment 77 #
Paragraph 16
16. Welcomes the fact that Colombia and Peru have ratified all the 8 Fundamental ILO-conventions plus 3 of the 4 Governance Conventions, as stated by the ILO representative in INTA's Public Hearing on the TA at the European Parliament in Brussels on 29th February 2012; insists on the importance of a swift ratification and effective implementing of all the ILO Fundamental and Governance Conventions, especially C122 in the case of Colombia and C129 in the case of Peru; underlines to all parties the importance of ratifying the ILO Convention 135 on workers' representatives; recallurges in this context that 24 EU Member States still haven't ratified the ILO C169- Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention;