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Philippines Bloody for Unionists, But Invest There Says Ottawa

Canada's government is too quiet on abuses say human rights advocates.

Tom Sandborn 25 Nov 2009TheTyee.ca

Tyee contributing editor Tom Sandborn writes about labour and health policy issues.

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Low-paid workers in 'militarized' Export Processing Zone. Photo courtesy International Trade Union Confederation.

Why is Canada's government promoting the Philippines as a prime place to invest, even as workers in that nation face abduction, torture and death for trying to organize unions?

Increasingly, that question is being pressed by human rights activists in B.C. and elsewhere in Canada.

In the United States, Walmart and other big apparel firms have sent a critical letter to Philippine president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, citing in her country a "pattern of harassment and violence against workers, labour leaders and human rights promoters."

And the International Trade Union Confederation, which represents 178 million workers in 158 different countries, last year documented a grim situation that has further deteriorated. "Four trade union officials were shot and killed by unknown assassins and the military intimidated and harassed union officials. The authorities continued frustrating worker attempts to form unions and arrested union officials," reported the confederation.

In April, Ken Georgetti, president of the Canadian Labour Congress, joined a long list of other Canadian labour leaders as well as many Canadian churches in sending a letter to the Philippine president. "We vehemently protest the on-going human and labour rights violations and repression perpetrated by state authorities in the Philippines," they wrote.

Go to a Canadian government web site, however, and you are shown a very different picture. The Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade is promoting Canadian investment in the Philippines and posting a pro-Philippines investment article that paints a rosy picture of business prospects there while urging investors to meet with a Philippine business delegation that visited Canada this summer.

"In fact, the Philippines is now considered one of the most attractive investment destinations in the world, accounting for 6.7 per cent of the estimated US$326 billion global information and communication technology outsourcing market, next to India and China," reads the article.

Step up the criticism: activist

One of the loudest voices calling for Canada to take a stronger stand against the Philippines government is Toronto-based human rights activist Kevin Thomas.

"If Canadians are willing to accept a share of the benefits of trade and investment in the Philippines, we have to also accept a share of the responsibility to protect the rights and physical integrity of those workers and communities that make those benefits possible" said Thomas, who helps run the Maquila Solidarity Network.

Dana Cryderman, Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) spokesperson, told the Tyee that her department and the government of Canada has not been as silent as Thomas and other critics think.

"Canada is actively engaged on the issue of human rights in the Philippines. Canadian representatives regularly raise our concerns with the Philippines at all levels. On April 18, 2008, Deepak Obhrai, Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs, issued a members statement expressing our concerns regarding the human rights situation in the Philippines," Cryderman told the Tyee in a recent email exchange.

Obhrai, an MP and Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs and for International Cooperation, told Parliament in April that Canada was encouraged by recent developments in the Philippines with regards to promoting and protecting human rights.

He told Parliament: "The Philippines faces serious human rights challenges, notably, the ongoing extrajudicial killings and the apparent culture of impunity. Canada raised these concerns on April 11 during the Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review of the Philippines. Canada also encouraged the Philippines to ensure that its security forces are aware of human rights and of their responsibility to protect human rights defenders."

DFAIT's Cryderman told the Tyee that Canada has often expressed its concerns about human and labour rights abuses in the Philippines, including statements made as part of its involvement at the United Nations Human Rights Council. She also cited Canadian work on capacity building with Philippine institutions with "a mandate to improve human rights."

'Building people-to-people solidarity'

May Farrales, chair of the Vancouver-based B.C. Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines, is not impressed with the efforts cited by DFAIT. "It is time that the Canadian government wake up to the true character of the Arroyo regime," she told The Tyee in an email. "We believe Canada's position that the Philippines is a 'functioning democracy' is no longer tenable."

Farrales maintains that the Canadian government could do more, and grassroots movements in Canada can help push this agenda.

"We believe that Canada's response will remain ineffective until Canada is also willing to critically examine all its various spheres of relations with the Philippines, including immigration, trade and investment, military aid (e.g. promotion of joint military training exercises, etc), CIDA funding for various projects including those that supposedly uphold the rule of law, etc."

Farrales adds: "This is where Canadians can do more to understand Canada's role in the Philippines and with that understanding, help lobby the Canadian government and get more involved in building people-to-people solidarity."

Farrales' group wants the Canadian government to review all its aid and relationships with the Philippines, call for real human rights protection reforms there and convene a Parliamentary investigation into Philippine human rights violations.

Bill Saunders, president of the Vancouver and District Labour Council, who toured the Philippines for two weeks last December. He said workers in the Philippines "dont want to have to go off shore and work as servants. At present, the Philippine economy is geared to exporting cheap labour around the world, with offshore workers each supporting up to ten people at home in the Philippines while up to 35 per cent of the population lives with malnourishment.

"Trade unions are an important part of this fight for justice. The Canadian government is complicit with repression now. It should be supporting demands for union rights and stop colluding with those in the Philippines who are trying to crush unions."

Thomas notes that the International Labour Organization has recently completed a long deferred investigation into possible labour abuses in the Philippines. (It took two years for the government of the Philippines to give its permission for the ILO committee to do its work within the country.)

In announcing the upcoming visit of the ILO committee to the Philippines in a press release this summer, the global labour body referred to "serious allegations of the murder of trade unionists, death threats, arrest of trade union leaders in connection with their trade union activities, widespread impunity relating to violence against trade unionists and the militarization of workplaces in export processing zones (EPZs) and special economic zones."

When the final report from the ILO investigation is published during the first quarter of 2010, Thomas expects that the findings will confirm the many credible reports of anti- union violence and systematic denial of freedom to associate that his organization and many other labour and human rights groups have heard for years.

'Vital to our continued prosperity'

The Tyee asked DFAIT's Cryderman whether it was appropriate for the Canadian government to promote investment in the Philippines while reports of labour abuses there are so common. She replied:

"Canadian Direct Investment Abroad (CDIA) is an important trade policy priority for Canada in its relationship with the Philippines. It is vital to our continued prosperity, and our economic engagement with the Philippines gives us the opportunity to encourage and incorporate Canadian values towards positive policy developments on better human rights conditions."  [Tyee]

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