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I want to tell you about an exciting, new opportunity for trade justice. Today the toxic UK-Colombia investment deal has opened for renegotiation. For the last ten years, corporations have been using it to seek massive profits, at the expense of people and the environment. But now we have a chance to remove this threat once and for all - and you can help!
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Right now, mining companies are using the UK-Colombia deal to rinse Colombia of billions of dollars in public funds, just for protecting its communities and land. That’s because the UK-Colombia treaty contains the notorious trade rule called ISDS (Investor-State Dispute Settlement). These corporate courts allow companies to sue governments over any policy they allege harms their profits.
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Now the opportunity to terminate the toxic UK-Colombia deal is finally here. Our allies – local communities, trade unions and activists – in Colombia are calling on their government to drop it. It's up to us in the UK to seize this critical moment to also ensure our government scraps this toxic treaty.
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With our government's new trade strategy being written in the coming months, we must act fast now to keep corporate courts out of future deals. Can you donate £5 to help ramp up the pressure and end the harmful deal with Colombia?
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Colombia can’t wait for change any longer
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The UK-Colombia treaty is being weaponised by the Australian mega-miner, BHP Group, which has set up a branch in the UK. The company has used the deal to sue Colombia for $94 million after the government dared to investigate alleged unpaid taxes of $152 million by BHP Group’s huge nickel mine, Cerro Matoso – one of the largest in the world.
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The Cerro Matoso mine is highly controversial. Its waste emissions have polluted the nearby air, soil and water and caused serious, long-term health problems, including cancer, among the resident Indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities.
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Corporations like BHP Group can use corporate courts in this way to intimidate governments out of holding them to account. This is just one of the ways that ISDS empowers multinational companies to extract profits from Colombia, at the people’s expense.
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We stand in solidarity with our Colombian partners, who are fighting not just against BHP, but for their right to protect their land and resources. Can you donate today and help us build enough momentum to push our government to end the dangerous UK-Colombia deal?
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A new government. A new chance for trade justice
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If we stand together we can achieve trade justice. Earlier this year we had a campaign victory, convincing the previous government to leave the Energy Charter Treaty – a climate-wrecking trade deal with corporate courts at its heart. When Labour was in opposition it expressed concerns about this destructive trade rule. Now they are in power, we must make them turn words into action.
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The Colombia deal is just the first of a series of chances for trade justice. In the coming months, the government will be writing its new trade strategy. This is our chance to make sure it commits to ruling corporate courts out of UK trade deals. More and more countries are rejecting corporate courts, including the United States, Indonesia, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. Now is the time for the UK to step up too, starting with the UK-Colombia deal.
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A donation from you could strengthen our campaign by helping:
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Expose the injustice of the UK-Colombia agreement in the media, giving voice to our Colombian allies, to increase awareness and mobilisation against it.
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Make sure our government hears our demands to end the UK-Colombia deal through organising demonstrations and online actions.
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Get more of the public to back the campaign to scrap the UK-Colombia treaty by raising awareness through talks, online information and printed materials.
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Strengthen the grassroots movement by working closely with activist groups and trade unions, both here and in Colombia.
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Corporate courts are allowing companies to run roughshod over human rights, climate action and democracy. But if we stand together, in solidarity with our Colombian allies, I know we can stop them.
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Best wishes
Cleodie Rickard
Campaigner at Global Justice Now
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