Unite Union and Global Peace and Justice Aotearoa are calling on Aucklanders to join people from Colombia at a protest in Auckland this weekend.
Demonstrators block a street with a barricade in Cali, Colombia during a protest against a tax reform bill. Photo: AFP
There have been widespread protests in Colombia over the past two weeks after the government proposed a tax reform it said was key to mitigating Colombia's economic crisis.
President Iván Duque has since withdrawn the bill, but that hasn't stopped the protests. Demonstrators are calling for improvements to the country's pension, health and education systems, and they're standing up to what they say is excessive use of violence by the security forces.
At least 24 people, including a police officer, have died since the protests started.
The police were believed to be responsible for at least 11 of those deaths, Colombia's ombudsman said. More than 800 people have been injured in clashes between the police and demonstrators while more than 80 others are reported as missing.
The UN has urged Colombia's security forces to refrain from using firearms, while the government has blamed violence in the country on left-wing rebels.
Unite Union and Global Peace and Justice Aotearoa (GPJA) are asking the public to join Colombians in Aotea Square in central Auckland at 3.30pm on Sunday "to strongly condemn the brutal repression of the Colombian people exercising their right to freedom of expression, demonstrating against the tax reform bill and other harmful policies of their government".
"We want to support the legitimate demands of the Colombian people, support the strike, the peaceful mobilisations in line with the decisions of the National Unemployment Committee and the many social organisations that support them," Unite Union advocate and GPJA spokesperson Mike Treen said.
"The people of Colombia are victims of police repression for demonstrating in the streets. Together with global union federations, Unite Union rejects armed violence against the country's citizens, which has led to disappearances, arrests, injuries and deaths."
Global union federations have sent a letter to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, asking them to urgently intervene in Colombia to stop the brutal police violence, Treen said.
Although the government has withdrawn the proposed tax reform, Colombia's National Strike Committee continues to call for ongoing protests, an end to the massacre and that those responsible be held accountable, Treen said.