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

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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

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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
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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

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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

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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

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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