Armed conflict and human rights in Colombia

The Reverend Milton Mejía is coordinator of the Church and Society Monitoring Group in Colombia, Reformed University.

Introduction

Colombia, a country in South America, with a population of around 44 million, is considered to be one of the oldest and most stable democracies in the region. However, alongside democracy in Colombia, there is also an armed conflict which some consider to have begun at the end of the 1940s. The fact that Colombia has maintained its democratic tradition while experiencing so lengthy a period of armed conflict, in which there have been so many victims and deaths, has resulted in international bodies such as the United Nations and humanitarian and ecumenical organizations devoting particular attention to the human rights situation in Colombia.

To see the full document click on the link below:

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1758-6623.2010.00094.x/abstract

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1758-6623.2010.00094.x/full

Free trade Agreements and the Christian Faith

by Milton Mejia, Presbyterian Professor of Theology and Coordinator of the Church and Society Observatory of Reformed University in Colombia

Various political analysts in Colombia and in the United States are stating that the control of the House of Representatives by the Republicans after January, 2011, will enable the approval of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Colombia very soon.

         This analysis appears to be confirmed with the visit in January, 2011, of John McCain, the ex-Presidential candidate and current Republican Senator, and Democrat Sander Levin who is part of the Committee in the House of Representatives which is responsible for foreign trade and economic growth - where the FTA with Colombia is lodged.  During their time in Colombia, both political leaders expressed their commitment to promote the trade agreement signed at the end of 2006 between the governments of Colombia and the United States. That agreement was approved by the Colombian Congress, but not by its counterpart in Washington, due to concerns raised by the Democrats about human rights in the Andean country.

To see the full document click on the link below:

http://www.pcusa.org/resource/php-post-newsletters-spring-2011/