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War on Terror or War on Women? The View from Latin America

In March 2004, MADRE submitted the following statement to the UN Commission on Human Rights

MADRE, an international women�s human rights organization, requests that the members of the Commission on Human Rights consider the impact of counter-terrorism initiatives on women and families in Latin America.

Since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States, State and non-State actors have exploited these atrocities to advance pre-existing agendas that pose disastrous consequences for women and families around the world. Under the guise of the "war on terror," the US government and cooperating countries have promoted policies that suit the interests of arms manufacturers, oil companies and repressive governments in clear violation of international human rights law. Meanwhile, for the world�s poor�70% of whom are women�the reaction by the US and other countries to September 11 has intensified the overlapping crises that shape daily life: poverty and worker exploitation; free-trade agreements that harm the poor; government neglect of urgent issues; military interventions; and spiraling political violence.

Women human rights activists from around the world have generated critical analyses about how the "war on terror" impacts their communities and new strategies to challenge US-driven policies that rob them of their rights. These women deliver a powerful message to their own governments and to the Bush Administration: for security to be genuine, it must be global. Moreover, "state security" must be grounded in human security, based on protection of women�s human rights as outlined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the International Bill of Rights, including the rights to food, housing, health care, education and decent work.

Free Trade: The Economic Arm of the War on Terror

The Bush Administration has recast its pre-existing free trade agenda as an imperative of national security under the rhetoric of "countering terrorism with trade."1 This policy is integrated into key government documents such as President Bush�s 2002 National Security Strategy, which states that, "free markets and free trade are key priorities of our national security strategy."2

Since September 11, the Bush Administration has offered other governments preferential trade deals in exchange for their cooperation in the "war on terror." As US trade representative Robert Zoellick said, "countries that seek free trade agreements with the US�must cooperate with the US on its foreign policy and national security goals.".3 Conversely, countries such as Chile that dare to challenge the "war on terror" have been threatened with the cancellation of trade agreements.4

The Bush Administration has exerted particular pressure on Latin American governments to sign onto the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) and the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). The FTAA, which seeks to create the world�s largest and most extensive free trade zone, was described in the 2002 US National Security Strategy as a guarantor of US national security in the hemisphere. Following this logic, the 87 billion dollar spending bill for Iraq passed by Bush in 2003�the legislative centerpiece of the "war on terror"�included an allotment of eight million dollars for security operations against protestors of the FTAA negotiations, held in Miami in November 2003.

Trade policies in Latin America as outlined in the FTAA and CAFTA violate the rights of the hemisphere�s poorest women and families. Such agreements promise to bankrupt and displace millions more Latin American small farmers by inscribing a one-sided protectionism favoring the US. As evidenced from existing trade agreements such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), these policies jeopardize food security, basic services and critical utilities for poor women and families. When young women migrate to urban areas for survival, they are subjected to sexual harassment, meager wages and poor working conditions at factory jobs in free trade zones in clear violation of their social and economic rights established in international human rights treaties such as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Violence against Women (CEDAW).

In Nicaragua, free trade policies lead to the appropriation of land and resources from Indigenous communities for use by multi-national corporations, violating the rights of women and Indigenous Peoples guaranteed by international law.5 Rain forests on which local Peoples depend for food, water and medicines are being destroyed. As a result, traditional diets are further undermined in a region where 75 percent of the population already suffers from malnutrition. Women, who are responsible for providing for their families and have less access to food in the first place because of gender discrimination, are especially threatened. Mirna Cunningham, an Indigenous leader and medical doctor on the North Atlantic Coast reports that, "when women go out to haul water, fish or gather plants, they are confronted with armed guards protecting land that is now corporate property. Without our lands, women cannot care for their families."

Fueling the War on Terror: The Hunt for Oil

After September 11, the Bush Administration vowed to become less dependent on oil from the Middle East. As a result, US military aid to oil-rich countries in Latin America increased dramatically. For example, after September 11, Bush doubled US military aid to Mexico.6 Consequently, Indigenous Peoples in Chiapas, Mexico�s poorest state, witnessed a sharp rise in the number of soldiers in their communities as some of Latin America�s largest oil reserves are thought to lie beneath their lands.

Intense militarization of Chiapas has led to serious violations of women�s human rights. Carolina*, a young Indigenous woman and human rights activist from Chiapas, reports that, "Women suffer from the presence of soldiers, both government troops and the more brutal paramilitary forces. They live in fear that their families will be hurt, their houses burned down and their lands taken by the army to build military camps or roads. These threats cause tremendous psychological stress. We have seen more mental health problems among women in our community." Women�s personal security is further threatened by acts of gender-based violence, condemned under the provisions of international law including the Rome Statute. Carolina states that, "When the army comes, it is no longer safe for women to be outside. Girls are raped and forced to become prostitutes for the soldiers. Others have been kidnapped by paramilitaries and held as slaves to cook, clean and provide sex for the men."

Forced Displacement and Attacks on Human Rights Defenders in Colombia

Shortly after September 11, President Bush pushed to revoke human rights conditions on military aid for its allies in the "war on terror." As a result, hard-won human rights protections in Colombia and elsewhere were unraveled. For example, the Colombian Congress passed a new "anti-terrorism bill" which granted the military sweeping powers, including the right to detain people as young as 16 without a trial, in clear violation of international human rights treaties including the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Bush�s "war on terror" has also allowed the Colombian government to use US military aid directly for operations against leftist guerrillas. Even before September 11, Colombia ranked as the worst human rights offender in the hemisphere. This new policy has fueled the armed conflict and given the government a green light to further subordinate human rights and democratic processes to its counter-terrorism operations.

Cecilia*, who works with a women�s organization in Bogot�, says that, "since Bush declared his �war on terror,� civilian deaths have risen to almost 20 a day. That�s nearly double the figures for 2000. Last year, another 400,000 people were driven from their homes." To date, nearly three million Colombians have been displaced, out of a total population of about 40 million. Most are Indigenous and Afro-Colombian women with children who have been relegated to overcrowded, makeshift urban neighborhoods, where they continue to be plagued by paramilitary violence, rampant crime and grinding poverty.7

Colombian counter-terrorism operations have made work for human rights defenders more dangerous, violating provisions set forth by the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders. According to Cecilia, the Colombian government now "thinks it has permission from the White House to treat critics as terrorists." "Last year," said Cecilia, "half of all those detained under counter-terrorism measures were social activists and human rights workers. Schoolteachers have become a major target of the death squads. Teachers are labeled as terrorists for allegedly influencing students the wrong way and more than one is killed every week."

Cecilia emphasizes that security has become a code-word for justifying government violations of people�s basic rights. For most Colombians, the real cause of insecurity is the government itself: its social policies, which keep people poor and landless; and its alliance with the paramilitaries, which are responsible for most of the killings. Cecilia asks, "How can we hold our government accountable when the US says that anything is allowed in the name of national security?"

Redefining Security

MADRE wishes to express deep concern about the ways in which the "war on terror" is used as a pretext to violate the rights of women and families in Latin America. Respect for universal human rights and laws must be upheld as States attempt to combat terrorism. Countries such as the United States have a particular responsibility to protect human security and uphold human rights standards and obligations so as not to set dangerous precedents which sanction rights violations in other parts of the world. MADRE, in partnership with women�s human rights organizations throughout the hemisphere, calls upon State and non-State actors to ensure that national security is grounded in human security and the protection of the rights of the world�s majority, of poor women and families.

*Carolina and Cecilia are pseudonyms used for protection from government or paramilitary violence.

Read more information about the human rights instruments mentioned in this document.