UNDP LABOR VIOLENCE STUDY KICKS OFF

C O N F I D E N T I A L BOGOTA 003031 SIPDIS USTR FOR EISSENSTAT AND HARMAN DOL FOR ZOLLNER AND QUINTANA E.O. 12958: DECL: 2019/09/21 TAGS: ELAB EAID ETRD PGOV PREL PTER USTR CO SUBJECT: UNDP LABOR VIOLENCE STUDY KICKS OFF REF: 2009 BOGOTA 8508 DERIVED FROM: DSCG 05-1 B, D SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (C) The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Colombia launched its long-anticipated labor violence study with an Ambassador-level planning meeting (which Ambassador Brownfield attended) and working-level workshop on September 4, 2009. The study will analyze the causes and effects of labor violence and promote constructive debate. The participants include Colombia's largest labor confederations, Government of Colombia (GOC) officials, a private-sector association, five research centers, an university "advisor" to guide the research, and a consortium of eight embassies. The ambassadors agreed not to get directly involved in the research due to the sensitivities of labor groups. The ambassadors also agreed to maintain the study's original one-year timeline despite numerous electoral events in Colombia in the coming months. Several embassies are focused on their country's respective free trade agreements (FTA) with Colombia, some of which await ratification pending investigations and/or debate over the labor rights situation. USAID is contributing $301,000 to the project. End Summary. OBJECTIVES AND PARTICIPANTS -------------- ¶2. (SBU) UNDP Resident Representative Bruno Moro hosted on September 4 a group of ambassadors and technical staff to develop a consensus on how to proceed with an in-depth analysis of the causes and effects of violence against Colombian unionists, and to explore the obligations, advances, and limitations of the GOC in preventing labor violence and guaranteeing justice to victims. UNDP Governance Program Specialist Jose Ricardo Puyana said the study aims to provide the bases for informed and constructive debate about violence against unionists. The study will include the primary Tripartite Agreement members (reftel): Colombia's three largest labor confederations (CUT, CTC, CGT); GOC officials from the Ministry of Social Protection (MPS) and the Presidential Program on Human Rights; and private-sector companies represented by the National Association of Colombian Entrepreneurs (ANDI). Puyana told us that these entities will serve as "permanent consultants" to the project, offering input through periodic discussion groups and ultimately sanctioning the research from the perspective of their constituencies. ¶3. (SBU) Five Colombian research centers will each carry out a thematic study, Puyana explained. The Conflict Analysis Resource Center (CERAC) will explore methods of defining and measuring violence; the Center for Research and Popular Education (CINEP) will analyze links between violence and worker protests; the New Rainbow Corporation (Nuevo Arco Iris) will study labor violence in the context of the armed conflict; the Center for the Study of Law, Justice, and Society (DeJusticia) will study impunity and justice system capacity; and the Ideas for Peace Foundation (FIP) will analyze the relationship between labor violence and Colombia's so-called "anti-union culture." Furthermore, a local university will act as an advisor--either the University of the Andes or The National University of Colombia--to guide the research and offer recommendations for improving the analysis and contents of each study. INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY SUPPORT -------------- ¶4. (SBU) Puyana said that ambassadors and/or charges from eight supporting embassies and the UNDP will form a "Coordination Committee" to steer the project towards its intended goals: unification of the five thematic studies into a final report, and a seminar to present its conclusions. Some of the embassies will also fund the project: --Embassy of the United States / U.S. Agency for International Development ($301,000) --Embassy of Spain / Spanish Agency for International Cooperation and Development ($290,000) --Embassy of Canada ($186,000) --Embassy of Sweden / Swedish International Development Agency ($50,000) --Embassy of Norway ($50,000) --Embassy of the United Kingdom ($25,000) --Embassy of the Netherlands ($0) --Embassy of France ($0) PROJECT TIMELINE -------------- ¶5. (SBU) Puyana said that the research centers will have until February 2010 to complete their studies and will submit progress reports at the three-month mark for review and recommendations from the university advisor. Concurrently, the UNDP will organize discussion groups comprised of the Tripartite Agreement members to review each study and offer recommendations. Based on the combined feedback, the research centers will revise and complete their final reports by May. The UNDP will then merge the five thematic studies into a final report and organize a seminar for presenting its conclusions in August 2010. As the study had been discussed for almost two years, the timeline was welcomed by all present. FIRST COORDINATION COMMITTEE MEETING -------------- ¶6. (C) The Coordination Committee, comprised of ambassadors of governments with pending FTAs with Colombia, discussed the project's timeline in the context of domestic politics. The UNDP's Moro suggested that they delay release of the five thematic studies until after the upcoming elections (referendum on presidential reelection, March congressional elections, and May presidential elections),but the ambassadors uniformly pushed back. The utility of the study, they argued, was less about Colombian politics and more about satisfying the concerns of each government about violence against union members. They also discussed how to ensure buy-in from the labor confederations. Ambassador Brownfield cautioned that the embassies should not get directly involved in the research itself to reduce the risk of the labor confederations withdrawing their support from the project or rejecting its conclusions. They also discussed how best to weave the research projects into a cohesive final report given that each study would draw on and generate distinct data and statistics. Ambassador Brownfield advised that the final report should focus on comparing trends reflected in the data, and not on reconciling numbers across studies with different data sets, to which the group agreed. WORKSHOP GENERATES REAL, CIVIL DEBATE -------------- ¶7. (SBU) During the day-long workshop that followed the meeting with the ambassadors, each research center outlined its proposed study plan to the participants. As embassy personnel largely looked on, the Tripartite Agreement members critiqued the proposals and debated each one's scope, assumptions, and methodologies. While there were one or two heated exchanges, particularly between CUT President Tarcisio Mora and the Director of the Presidential Program on Human Rights, Carlos Franco, the debate remained scholarly and focused, and the workshop ended cordially. The CUT, the most vocal critic of the study, reaffirmed that it would remain an observer in the study rather than a participant like the other confederations. BROWNFIELD