UK Minister 'has put Colombian trade unionists' lives at risk'

British foreign office minister Kim Howells was under fire on Mar. 17 after making "utterly unfounded" comments which unions say have put the lives of Colombian trade unionists and human rights defenders at risk. Labor's largest affiliated trade union, Unite, called on Prime Minister Gordon Brown to sack Howells unless he apologized over his claims that a trade union-backed organization, Justice for Colombia (JFC) supported the FARC, a Marxist guerrilla group fighting a war against the government. On Mar. 14, Howells told the Western Mail newspaper: "...Justice for Colombia... supports FARC, a band of gangsters and drug smugglers. Thirty years ago it used to be a revolutionary organization, but now it's the biggest drugs cartel in Colombia." However, JFC has highlighted the fact that more than 550 trade unionists have been assassinated in Colombia over the past six years by the army and paramilitary death squads that work with them. JFC has also criticized the UK government for continuing to give military aid to the Colombian army, despite the killings. Tony Woodley, joint general secretary of Unite, said the minister's comments denouncing JFC, had put local trade unionists and human rights workers in "real danger." Howells has already provoked the ire of Colombia campaigners after he was photographed laughing with General Montoya, the commander of Colombian National Army who was last year named in a US House of Representatives report as having allegedly "collaborated extensively with militias that the Department of State considers terrorists organizations." In a separate photo, Howells was seen posing with members of a Colombian military unit which human rights groups say was involved in the murder of trade unionists. Woodley said: "It is clear that when senior politicians in Colombia make such comments, assassinations and threats against trade unionists and human rights activists increase, and for those reasons we are astonished that a UK minister would make such dangerous and unfounded comments. "Instead of responding to the legitimate concerns raised about British policy in Colombia, Kim Howells is engaging in the same tactics that the Colombian regime uses to silence and intimidate its critics. "He clearly has little understanding of the situation in Colombia and we call on him to immediately and publicly withdraw his comments. Should he not do so we call on the prime minister to remove him from office." JFC receives funding from Unite and other trade unions for its work in supporting trade unionists and human rights campaigners on the ground in Colombia. Last year Unite sponsored JFC's largest event which was aimed at promoting a humanitarian exchange of prisoners between the parties in the Colombian conflict. Participants in the event included the families of those being held by the FARC. Jeremy Dear, chair of Justice for Colombia, refuted Howells' allegations. Dear, also general secretary of the National Union of Journalists, said: "Like the Colombian trade union movement, which we exist to support, Justice for Colombia condemns all violence. "We want to see an end to the killing of trade unionists, and the impunity enjoyed by those responsible for their deaths–including sections of the Colombian army. "Until such time as the Colombian government ends their collusion, we are calling on the British government to freeze all military aid and replace it with humanitarian aid. If he is quoted accurately, Kim Howells should withdraw his comments."