Posts Tagged ‘Colombia’

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Monthly list of major threats to press freedom includes Covid-19 cases

April 2, 2020

One Free Press Coalition logo

There is a list – updated monthly – by the One Free Press Coalition of nearly 40 news organizations, which identifies the 10 most urgent cases threatening press freedom around the world. Understanding the COVID-19 requires unbiased journalists, whose work requires protection. Not only does the act of informing the public carry risk to one’s own health but, in many countries, risk of retaliation. In China, freelance video journalist Chen Quishi disappeared on February 6 after informing family of plans to report on a temporary hospital in Wuhan, where the virus originated. Beijing has since expelled journalists from outlets including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and The Washington Post and demanded personnel information from Voice of America and TIME. Mohammad Mosaed, a reporter in Iran who criticized the government’s response to the pandemic, has been barred from practicing journalism and suspended from social media. Family members of imprisoned Egyptian journalist Alaa Abdelfattah were detained for protesting on behalf of prisoners who are vulnerable to the spread of the virus. An Azerbaijani journalist freed in mid-March described detention conditions allowing one shower per week, without soap, he told CPJ

 

See the full list below:

1. Mohammad Mosaed (Iran)

Journalist, who warned about pandemic, banned from work and social media.

Freelance economic reporter Mohammad Mosaed awaits a court date, after intelligence agents of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) arrested and interrogated him in February regarding social media accounts critical of government. The criticism included lack of preparedness to tackle the coronavirus outbreak. Until trial, authorities bar him from practicing journalism and suspended his social media accounts. Last year he endured 16 days in Evin prison for his tweets and was released on bail.

2. Maria Ressa (Philippines)

Editor facing potential detention, arrested again March 28.

Rappler editor Maria Ressa is scheduled for trial April 24, expecting a verdict on a cyber-libel charge brought by local businessman Wilfredo Keng regarding a May 2012 story. The relevant law took effect four months after the story in question was published. Depending how judges interpret the 2012 Cybercrime Prevention Act, Ressa could face six years in prison.

3. Alaa Abdelfattah (Egypt)

Family of jailed journalist protests prisons’ inaction to prevent COVID-19 threat.

While blogger Alaa Abdelfattah is held in Cairo’s Tora Prison, three of his family members face charges of unlawful protest, illegal assembly and obstructing traffic in their call to protect prisoners from the spread of coronavirus. They were released on bail exceeding $300 apiece. After reporting about politics and human rights violations, Abdelfattah has endured threats and been told he will never go free if he speaks of guards’ abuse.

4. Chen Qiushi (China)

Journalist covering coronavirus disappeared more than six weeks ago.

Freelance video journalist Chen Quishi has not been seen since February 6, when he informed family of plans to report on a temporary hospital. In late January, he had traveled from Beijing to the city of Wuhan in Hubei province and began filming and reporting on the coronavirus health crisis, according to his posts on YouTube. Friends running his Twitter account believe he is likely held in residential surveillance.

5. Claudia Julieta Duque (Colombia)

Journalist fears for her life, amid government-orchestrated threats.

After 19 years of persecution and legal censorship, award-winning journalist Claudia Julieta Duque told IWMF that she learned on February 29 about an ongoing criminal threat against her life. According to Duque, agents of the state institution in charge of protecting human rights defenders and at-risk journalists, called the National Protection Unit (UNP), were reportedly ordered to carry out intelligence activities to infiltrate Duque’s security scheme and threaten her welfare.

6. Martin Doulgut (Chad)

Imprisoned publisher undertook hunger strike while awaiting appeal.

No date has been set, following postponement of a March 12 appeal in the case of Martin Inoua Doulguet, publisher of Salam Info. He was found guilty on criminal charges of defamation and conspiracy in September, and sentenced to three years in prison. The privately owned quarterly newspaper reports on crime and politics in Chad, and Doulguet’s penalty includes a $1,675 fine and paying part of $33,514 in plaintiff damages.

7. Azimjon Askarov (Kyrgyzstan)

Journalist serving life sentence prepares for final appeal.

On April 6, a Kyrgyz court is scheduled to hear the final appeal in the case of award-winning journalist Azimjon Askarov. The ethnic Uzbek, who reported on human rights, has spent more than nine years imprisoned on trumped-up charges that included incitement to ethnic hatred and complicity in the murder of a police officer. The decade-long case has drawn persistent international condemnation, and Kyrgyzstan’s only imprisoned journalist’s health deteriorates.

8. Roberto Jesús Quiñones (Cuba)

Journalist subject to inhumane prison conditions.

Cuban journalist Roberto Jesús Quiñones has spent more than six months behind bars, experiencing worsening treatment. Staff listen to all of his phone calls, have served him food containing worms, and upon learning of his secretly publishing from prison, suspended family visits and put him in solitary confinement. A municipal court in Guantánamo sentenced him to serve one year as a result of “resistance” and “disobedience” when police beat and detained him for covering a trial as a CubaNet contributor last April and his refusal to pay a fine imposed on him following this incident.

9. Ignace Sossou (Benin) 

Reporter experiences repeated retaliation for his work. 

On two different occasions last year, Benin courts delivered prison sentences to Ignace Sossou, a reporter for privately owned site Web TV. First was a one-month imprisonment and fine of $850 for publishing “false information” about local business dealings. Then an 18-month sentence and fine of $337 for defamation and disinformation in his reporting public statements made by Public Prosecutor Mario Mètonou.

10. Jamal Khashoggi (Saudi Arabia)

Turkish and U.S. leaders continue pressuring for murdered journalist’s justice.

On March 25 Turkish officials indicted 20 Saudi nationals in the ongoing pursuit for answers surrounding Jamal Khashoggi’s brazen killing in Istanbul in 2018 and the Saudi crown prince’s role. That follows a March 3 news conference with U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, Representative Tom Malinowsk, and The Washington Post columnist’s fiancé, Hatice Cengiz, announcing that they are invoking procedures within the Senate Intelligence Committee to provide a congressional release of information from intelligence agencies.

https://time.com/5813095/press-freedom-threats-coronavirus-april-2020/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/katherinelove/2020/04/01/coronavirus-calls-for-journalists-safety-frontline-reporters-top-list-of-10-most-urgent-press-freedom-cases/?ss=leadership-strategy#29d1805e2bfc

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Colombia: 21 January 2020 civil society begins a much-needed Patriotic March

January 20, 2020

There are so many places where human rights defenders are under attack [see e.g. https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2020/01/14/front-line-defenders-global-analysis-2019-is-out-304-hrds-killed/], but Colombia seems to have started the new year even worse than others, witness the following recent reports:

The United Nations’ mission chief told the Security Council on Monday 13 January that Colombia will not achieve peace “if the brave voices of social leaders continue to be silenced” and urged government action. In his address to the council, UN mission chief Carlos Ruiz dismissed President Ivan Duque‘s recent claim that violence against human rights defenders and community leaders dropped 25% last year. In the course of 2020, already 15 social leaders have been assassinated in an exceptional spike in political killings, according to independent think tanks. “On December 23, artist and social leader Lucy Villareal was killed in the Nariño department after conducting an artistic workshop for children and the killings of former FARC-EP combatants resumed on the very first day of the year with the death in the Cauca department of Benjamin Banguera Rosales,” Ruiz highlighted. Ruiz additionally warned that “the pervasive violence in conflict-conflicted areas continues to threaten the consolidation of peace as illustrated by several profoundly worrying developments in the last few weeks.”

According to conflict expert Camilo Gonzalez of think tank Indepaz, 368 community leaders and human rights defenders have been assassinated since Duque took office in August 2018. Gonzalez confirmed social organizations’ claims that “there is an omission or even complicity by elements of the public force, by agents of the state” with illegal armed groups accused of many of the killings. While Duque has blamed drug trafficking for the killings, think tanks and the United Nations have said that also land disputes and mining are among the main motives for the killings.

——-

On the same day Prensa Latina reported on the Illegal wiretapping of journaliststhat.  The Foundation for Press Freedom (FLIP) referred to a recent probe published by the Revista Semana magazine, disclosing that, ‘separate units of the National Army conducted a plan to threaten and carry out unlawful wiretapping of journalists, human rights defenders, magistrates, politicians and other public officials.’This illegal surveillance was carried out from military facilities, in order to protect the Army from facing justice and the media, according to a military officer’s statement. The wiretapping operations, however, were not only aimed at Revista Semana journalists, FLIP noted. According to the investigation, the Army bought a technological platform called ‘Invisible Man’ worth about 3 billion pesos (US$ 930,000) from a Spanish company represented in Colombia by a former National Navy officer. Recipient of the 2017 Global Pluralism Award from the Ottawa-based Global Center for Pluralism for his community-led reconciliation efforts, Leyner Palacios has received death threats from an illegal armed organization operating on Colombia’s Pacific Coast, and along the Atrato River, where Bojayá is located. The threats against Palacios by a shadowy group known as Autodefensas Gaitanistas de Colombia (AGC), as well as presence in the region of the National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrilla, has forced the government of President Iván Duque to heighten security measures in the territory, including the possibility of establishing a permanent military base in Bojayá.
In the first two weeks of 2020, 19 social leaders, human rights defenders and ex-combatants have been assassinated even as the government has failed to take action
—–
Colombia

Newsclick of 20 January 2020 says the “Colombian tragedy continues without an end in sight“: The last two weeks have seen a worrying surge in assassinations of social leaders, human rights defenders and ex-combatants. 19 such leaders have been assassinated since the turn of the decade. The demand by organizations and movements for protection and justice for the leaders – 800 of whom have been assassinated since 2016 – are being ignored. Meanwhile, in the first week of January, the news magazine Semana released an extensive exposé revealing that the Colombian army was illegally listening to and indulging in surveillance of journalists, politicians and judges, including a Supreme Court judge. Law and order, protection and guarantee of the most basic rights remain elusive in Colombia. It lists many of the victims:

22 year-old Cristian David Caicedo was assassinated in execution style on January 3 by a group of armed men in the rural area of Guapi, Cauca. Caicedo was the son of a well-known regional Black leader who was the legal representative of the Community Council Guapi Abajo and a member of the National Space of Prior Consultation of Black Communities.

Anuar Rojas Isaramá was a 29-year-old member of the Indigenous guard from the Agua Blanca community in Nuquí, Chocó and was assassinated by armed men on January 5, but the crime was only reported by the public institutions on January 9. According to the mayor of Nuquí, the assassination of Isaramá caused the displacement of 28 families (123 people) who are currently taking refuge nearby.

An Indigenous Nasa elder, Virginia Silva of the El Canelo Reservation in Páez, Cauca was assassinated at her home in front of her husband on January 7. She was 71 years old. According to Sonia Hurtado Ducue, president of the Association of Nasa Cxha cxha Cabildos, Silvia had received death threats from armed groups before her assassination.

37-year-old Gloria Ocampo, who lived in the rural region of Puerto Guzmán, was assassinated in her home along with her neighbor on January 7. Ocampo was an important leader in promoting crop substitution on a departmental level and within her community and worked on developing alternative options for production and commercialization despite lack of support from the government.

Peasant leaders Óscar Quintero and Gentil Hernández were both assassinated on January 8 in Puerto Guzmán. In the case of Quintero, armed men arrived at his house, dragged him out and assassinated him in front of his wife.

The same day, Mireya Hernández Guevara, the former treasurer of a Community Action Board, was shot and killed in Algeciras, Huila.

On January 10, a total of six assassinations took place in different regions of the country. Amparo Guejia Mestizo, Nasa Indigenous leader and founder of the Landless Workers Movement – Grandchildren of Quintin Lame – was assassinated along with her son Juan Pablo Dicué in Caloto, Cauca. The organization is affiliated to the national platform of social movements, the Patriotic March. Also in Cauca, human rights defender Nelson Enrique Meneses, 29, was shot and killed in his home in front of his wife and 3-year-old daughter in the municipality of Inza. He was a member of the Peasant Association of Inzá Tierradentro, part of the National Association of Zones of Peasant Reserve and the Patriotic March.

In Chiriguaná, Cesar, unidentified armed men killed the leader of a community action board, Henry Cuello. Tulio César Sandoval, who was part of the Coordinator of Coca, Marijuana and Poppy Growers and the Patriotic March in the Catatumbo region of North Santander, was also violently assassinated in his home in front of his family members on January 10. In Turbo, Antioquia former council member Sergio Narváez was assassinated in his home.

The next day, January 11, John Freddy Álvarez was assassinated in Algeciras, Huila. He was the president of the Association of Peasant Workers in Algeciras, Huila and a member of the Patriotic March.

Jorge Luiz Betancourt was shot dead by armed men on January 13 inside his home in Montelíbano, Córdoba while he was with his family. According to the Cordobexia Foundation, Betancourt was a community and sports leader…

The rise in the assassination of peasant leaders, Indigenous leaders, human rights defenders and others has shaken Colombian society. According to these numbers, the genocide of social leaders in the country is no where near stopping and may even get worse this year.

…..social movements, Indigenous, Afro Descendant and peasant organizations, trade unions, and human rights organizations are preparing for a national strike on January 21. The mobilization will commemorate two months since the beginning of the wave of mobilizations, strikes, cacerolazos and other protest actions against the government of far-right Ivan Duque and its war-mongering, neoliberal policies. One of the principal demands of the strike is that the government act to stop the genocide of social leaders, human rights defenders and ex-combatants in the country. The social movement platform, the People’s Congress, released a statement expressing solidarity with the Patriotic March and condemning the increased violence against social leaders. They also called on the people of Colombia to “take to the streets to protest as part of the mobilizations that will begin on January 21.”

See also: https://reliefweb.int/report/colombia/visit-colombia-report-special-rapporteur-situation-human-rights-defenders

See also on 21 January: https://colombiareports.com/colombias-peaceful-anti-government-protests-marred-by-violent-incidents-in-bogota-and-medellin/

https://www.plenglish.com/index.php?o=rn&id=50838&SEO=illegal-wiretapping-of-journalists-denounced-in-colombia

https://reliefweb.int/report/colombia/security-council-press-statement-colombia-3

15 community leaders assassinated in Colombia in 2020

UN mission chief says Colombia should ‘urgently’ and ‘fully’ implement peace deal

https://www.newsclick.in/colombia-stories-pain-and-resistance

https://www.batimes.com.ar/news/latin-america/united-nations-envoy-for-colombia-peace-depends-on-stopping-killings.phtml

Colombia’s human rights defender Leyner Palacios threatened by armed group

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Colombia and Mexico: problems with national panic button devices for human rights defenders

December 24, 2019

The of Stock Daily Dish posted on 15 December 2019 a detailed piece on the shortcomings of the panic buttons issued by Colombia and Mexico.

A GPS-enabled “panic button” that Colombia‘s government has issued ito abut 400 persons is supposed to summon help for human-rights defenders or journalists if they are threatened. But it the article claims that it has technical flaws that could let hostile parties disable it, eavesdrop on conversations and track users‘ movements, according to an independent security audit conducted for The Associated Press. There is no evidence the vulnerabilities have been exploited, but are alarmed. “This is negligent in the extreme,” said Eva Galperin, director of cybersecurity at the nonprofit Electronic Frontier Foundation, calling the finding “a tremendous security failure.”

Over the past four years, other “distress alarms” and smartphone apps have been deployed or tested around the world, with mixed results. When effective, they can be crucial lifelines against criminal gangs, paramilitary groups or the hostile security forces of repressive regimes. [see: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2014/06/23/today-official-launch-of-ais-panic-button-a-new-app-to-fight-attack-kidnap-and-torture/ and https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2014/04/24/the-natalia-gps-alarm-bracelet-wins-golden-egg-awards-in-stockholm/]

The “boton de apoyo,” distributed by Colombia‘s Office of National Protection is a keychain-style fob. Its Chinese manufacturer markets it under the name EV-07 for tracking children, pets and the elderly. The operates on a wireless network, has a built-in microphone and receiver and can be mapped remotely with geo-location software. A button marked “SOS” calls for help when pressed.

A company official, John Chung, acknowledged that Rapid7 notified him of the flaws in December. In keeping with standard industry practice, Rapid7 waited at least two months before publicly disclosing the vulnerabilities to give the manufacturer time to address them. Chung told the AP that Eview was working to update the EV-07‘s webserver software, where Rapid7 found flaws that could allow user and geolocation data to be altered.

Activists have good reason to be wary of public officials in Colombia, where murder rates for land and labor activists are among the world‘s highest, and there is a legacy of state-sponsored crime. The DAS domestic intelligence agency, which provided bodyguards and armored vehicles to high-risk individuals prior to 2011, was disbanded after being caught spying on judges, journalists and activists. Five former DAS officials have been prosecuted for allegedly subjecting Duque and her daughter to psychological torture after she published articles implicating agency officials in the 1999 assassination of Jaime Garzon, a much-loved satirist.

Tanya O‘Carroll of Amnesty International, which has been developing a different kind of “panic button” since 2014 , said the Colombian model is fundamentally flawed. “In many cases, the government is the adversary,” she said. “How can those people who are the exact adversary be the ones that are best placed to respond?”…

In Mexico, the attorney general‘s office has issued more than 200 emergency alert devices to journalists and rights activists since 2013. But there have been multiple complaints . One is unreliability where cell service is poor. Others are more serious: Cases have been documented of police failing to respond or answering but saying they are unable to help.

O‘Carroll of Amnesty International said trials in 17 nations on three continents—including the Philippines, El Salvador and Uganda—show it‘s best to alert trusted parties—friends, family or colleagues. Those people then reach out to trusted authorities. Amnesty‘s app for Android phones is still in beta testing. It is activated with a hardware trigger—multiple taps of the power button. But there have been too many false alarms.

Sweden-based Civil Rights Defenders offers a 300-euro stand-alone panic button first deployed in Russia‘s North Caucasus region in 2013 and now used by more than 70 people in East Africa, Central Asia, the Balkans, Southeast Asia and Venezuela, said Peter Ohlm, a protection officer at the nonprofit. The organization‘s Stockholm headquarters always gets notified, and social media is typically leveraged to spread word fast when an activist is in trouble.

Colombia ‘panic buttons‘ expose activists

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USA’s International Women of Courage Awards for 2019

December 18, 2019

Stock Daily Dish on 16 December 2019 reports that Melania Trump made a rare public appearance to present 13 women with the 2017 Secretary of State’s International Women of Courage Award. The prize honors those who fight for women’s empowerment, often at great personal risk. “Together, we must declare that the era of allowing the brutality against women and children is over while affirming that the time for empowering women around the world is now,” Mrs. Trump said. She called on leaders to “continue to work towards gender empowerment and respect for people from all backgrounds and ethnicities,” and on the international community to fight all forms of injustice. For more on this award – and 7 more that have ‘courage’ in the title – see: http://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/awards/international-women-of-courage-award.

Each US embassy can nominate one woman for the award. The 13 women honored this year are:

Malebogo Molefhe (Botswana), who used to play for the Botswana national basketball team, has served as an advocate for survivors of gender-based violence after she was attacked and shot eight times by her ex-boyfriend in 2009 and confined to a wheelchair,

Rebecca Kabugho (Democratic Republic of the Congo), has led peaceful anti-government protests calling for credible elections in the DRC, and spent six months in prison for her role as an activist

Major Aichatou Ousmane Issaka (Niger), currently the deputy director of social work at the Military Hospital of Niamey, was one of the first women to join the Nigerien army in 1996, and was one of the first to attend a military academy. She has served throughout Niger, including in the Diffa Region, a stronghold of the Boko Haram terrorist group.

Veronica Simogun (Papua New Guinea), the founder and director of the Family for Change Association, who works to help shelter and relocate women affected by violence,

Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh (Vietnam), a blogger and activist who promotes environmental and human rights issues under the nom de plum Me Nam or Mother Mushroom. [see: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2018/10/18/vietnamese-blogger-mother-mushroom-released/]

Saadet Ozkan (Turkey) was a primary school teacher, who uncovered a “decades-long pattern of sexual abuse” and forced a criminal investigation of the principal; she still supports the victims and their case as a private consultant.

Jannat Al Ghezi (Iraq), helps Iraqi women escape violence, rape and domestic abuse, as well as Islamic State terrorism and occupation, and offers them shelter, training, protection and legal services through the Organization of Women‘s Freedom in Iraq

Sister Carolin Tahhan Fachakh (Syria), known as Sister Carol, runs a nursery school in war-torn Damascus for more than 200 Muslim and Christian children, as well as a tailoring workshop for internally displaced women.

Fadia Najib Thabet (Yemen) is a child protection officer who has dissuaded young boys from joining Al-Qaeda, exposed its Yemeni branch Ansar al-Sharia as a recruiter of child soldiers and reported on human rights violations for the UN Security Council.

Sharmin Akter (Bangladesh), a student who refused an arranged marriage at age 15, which resulted in the prosecution of her mother and her much-older prospective husband,

Sandya Eknelygoda (Sri Lanka), who fought for justice after the disappearance of her journalist husband in 2010 and who has served as a voice for the families of others who have disappeared during the country‘s civil war.

Natalia Ponce de Leon (Colombia), who has become a human rights activist for the victims of acid attacks after a stalker threw a liter of sulfuric acid on her in 2014,

Arlette Contreras Bautista (Peru), a domestic violence survivor and activist, who helped launch the Not One Woman Less movement, which aims to increase the social and political awareness of women‘s rights and gender-based violence in Peru.

The newspaper noticed that Mrs Trump did not mention her husband or his presidential administration during her 10-minute remarks.

See also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2019/03/12/one-journalist-who-did-not-get-the-women-of-courage-award-but-almost/
https://stockdailydish.com/time-for-empowering-women-is-now-melania-trump-honors-international-activists/

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CAFOD starts “messages to the brave” campaign

December 3, 2019

Send a message to the brave this Christmas, says CAFOD

Three Brazilian women protest in the Netherlands against Brazil’s rainforest destruction Photo: Ana Fernandez / SOPA Images/Sipa USA

Samantha Aidoo – Campaigns Engagement Manager at CAFOD – explains the Messages to the Brave campaign:

Indigenous governor Cristina Bautista from Northern Cauca, Colombia, was passionate about defending the rights of the Nasa people and protecting their land and territory. But her courage and determination came at great personal cost. On 29 October, the 42-year-old and four unarmed indigenous guards who were with her were killed in a brutal attack near their Tacueyó reserve. Five other people were injured. The organisation which Cristina and her colleagues were part of, ACIN – the coordinating council for 22 indigenous reserves in the area which is supported by CAFOD – is no stranger to tragedy.

Just a few weeks earlier, Glabedy Gómez who worked alongside ACIN, her daughter, Karina, and four other people were ambushed and killed on their way back from a political event. Karina, 32, strongly believed that debate and political participation were important paths for building peace in Colombia and had been campaigning to stand in a local election. It is people like Cristina and her colleagues – known as human rights defenders – who are responding most acutely to what Pope Francis referred to in his 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’ as “the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor”.

Across the world, indigenous communities are trying to stop big businesses from fencing off their land, tearing down forests and polluting rivers in the pursuit of mining, logging or large-scale agribusiness. But community members who dare to speak out and organise others to do the same may be harassed, threatened or even killed. To anyone here who has been following the climate strikes, or perhaps even taken part in one, it may seem unfathomable that people speaking out for the environment, peace and human rights could pay with their lives, but that is exactly what is happening. [see e.g. https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2019/01/09/global-witness-report-2018-on-environmental-defenders-bad-but-2017-was-worse/]

..

Their courage is helping to keep greenhouse gases in check and preserve key values like peace and human rights, but these communities are often left defending “our common home” on their own. In many countries, corruption, a lack of political will, or simply the fact that they live in a remote place means that communities who speak out often have no legal protection and no recourse for justice. That’s why this Advent, CAFOD is inviting people across England and Wales to send Christmas cards to those facing threats and attacks around the world in Brazil, Colombia, Uganda or the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

The Messages to the Brave campaign highlights the tireless work of men and women like Jose Batista Afonso from Brazil. Born in the countryside to rural worker parents, Jose grew up deeply connected to the land. He hadn’t planned to be a lawyer, but this changed after he saw rural leaders around him being routinely assassinated. Despite receiving death threats, for more than 20 years Batista has worked for the Pastoral Land Commission, defending the rights of landless communities in the Brazilian Amazon with support from CAFOD.

.. a simple card will show them that they aren’t alone in their fight to protect “our common home”, they have a community of people in the UK who are praying and standing with them. Perhaps members of the Fuerza Mujeres Wayuu women’s movement in Colombia, who have received more than six threats already this year, put it best when they say that together, we can “weave little by little for the future, a world more just than the one we had to live in”.

https://www.thetablet.co.uk/blogs/1/1331/send-a-message-to-the-brave-this-christmas-says-cafod

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2019 Ludovic Trarieux International Human Rights Award goes to Rommel Durán Castellanos of Colombia

October 22, 2019

On 27 May 2019, the Jury of the 24th Ludovic-Trarieux International Human Rights Prize chose the Colombian lawyer Rommel Durán Castellanos, President of the Equipo Jurídico Pueblos (EJP), as the recipient of the 2019 Prize. The Prize will be officially presented to Mr. Durán Castellanos on 8 November 8 at 5 p.m. at the Salle D of the European Convention Center Luxembourg – ECCL. For further information please contact: uiacentre@uianet.org.

Image result for ludovic human rights award

About the Ludovic Trarieux Human Rights Award and for some 15 other awards for lawyers, see: http://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/awards/ludovic-trarieux-international-human-rights-prize

Rommel Durán Castellanos, 33 years old, is a human rights lawyer and a the president of the ‘Pueblos’ Legal Team (Equipo Juridico Pueblos) and a volunteer with the Committee for Solidarity with Political Prisoners (CSPP), in Bucaramanga, in the northern Cesar Department, as well as a member of the Santander branch of the Committee for Solidarity with Political Prisoners. Since 2007, Rommel Durán has been defending marginalized communities and victims of human rights abuses and carrying out grassroots training workshops on human rights and protection mechanisms. In particular, he provides legal assistance to victims of violations in rural areas, where forcibly displaced small-scale producers are attempting to return to their lands, and victims of such crimes as enforced disappearance, torture and killings, perpetrated by State agents and paramilitary groups.
Rommel Durán faces very serious threats to his life due to his work as a lawyer and has first-hand experience of the violence that he seeks to challenge through his work. He is subject to harassment, including to a campaign of threats, attacks and stigmatization because of his work accompanying small-scale farming communities who are claiming the restitution of their lands under the Colombian Victims and Land Restitution Law.
In his work as a member of the ‘Pueblos’ Legal Team, Rommel Durán supports members of the Pitalito community who maintain that they have been forced, at gunpoint, to sell their land at unfairly low prices. Alongside the Directing Committee of the National Movement of Victims of State Crimes (MOVICE), Rommel Durán accompanied those members of the community who have returned to their lands and has provided them with legal advice and protection during the difficulties they have encountered since their return.
Apart from being stigmatized and falsely (criminally) accused, assumedly by those who have ‘purchased’ the land, the returning members of the community and their (legal) supporters, including Rommel Durán, have also been shot at by armed men during an incident in December 2013 while attempting to verify the state of the community’s crops.
On 9 August 2014, Rommel Durán was arrested in the village Curumaní and detained in poor conditions. The only information given by these policemen at the time was that there was a warrant for alleged conspiracy. However they did not state which judicial office issued the order. His cell phone was snatched from him; he was filmed and photographed illegally and was prevented from calling his own lawyer. He was released after being detained for 20 hours on 10 August. The issue of this certificate suggests that there is no intention holding to account those responsible for Rommel Durán’s arbitrary detention.

See also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2019/03/11/does-g7-set-a-precedent-with-sotoudeh-for-inviting-human-rights-defenders/

and https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2017/05/28/jailed-human-rights-lawyer-in-uae-awarded-the-2017-ludovic-trarieux-award/

 

https://www.uianet.org/en/news/2019-ludovic-trarieux-international-human-rights-prize-award-ceremony-invitation

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Carter Centre holds 2019 Human Rights Defenders Forum as from 12 October

October 7, 2019

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter speaks at the 2018 Human Rights Defenders Forum in Atlanta, GA, the theme of which was “Restoring Faith in Freedom.”

“Building Solidarity toward Equality for All” Dozens of activists, peacemakers, and community leaders from 28 countries will come together from 12-15 October for the Carter Center’s 12th Human Rights Defenders Forum. Three sessions, including a 15-minute Q&A with former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, will be livestreamed on Tuesday, 15 October. Session topics include global protection for human rights defenders, challenges for women defenders and peacemakers, and the importance of mutually supporting civil, economic, political, and social rights.

The forum this year include:

  • Hafida Benchehida, an Algerian senator since 2013 and a founding member of both the Algerian and Arab women parliamentarian networks. She is also a member of Mediterranean Women Mediators and a specialist in women’s roles in peace.
  • Mohna Ansari, a journalist-turned-attorney and a member of Nepal’s Human Rights Commission. Much of her work involves women’s rights, representation, and protection.
  • Ijam Alaz Augustine, minister for human rights and minorities affairs in Pakistan’s Lahore province, whose political career has been devoted to protecting the rights of religious minorities.
  • Fernando Carrillo Flórez, a former ambassador, minister of justice, and minister of the interior from Colombia who has published more than 14 books and 80 articles on democracy, governance, and reform of justice.
  • Maati Munjib, a journalist, professor, and president of Freedom Now, an organization devoted to protecting journalists and freedom of expression in Morocco. Because of his activism and writings, he faces a possible five years in prison. Amnesty International and other human rights groups have called for charges against him to be dropped.

Tuesday, October 15 webcast:
11:30 a.m. – 12:45 p.m.  Remarks by President Carter  Summary of the previous days’ workshops
Testimonies by human rights defenders and moderated discussion
2:15 ̶ 3:15 p.m. Discussion: “How Do We Build True Solidarity in the Struggle for Equality?”
3:50 ̶ 5 p.m.  Continued: Moderated discussion  Livestream Q&A with President Carter (4:35 to 4:50 p.m.)

During the webcast: Twitter @CarterCenter with hashtag #BuildingSolidarity.

https://www.cartercenter.org/news/upcoming_events/promo/hrd-forum-2019.html

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Norwegian Human Rights Fund seeks Country Director Colombia

September 10, 2019

The Norwegian Human Rights Fund is looking for a country director in Colombia., which is a newly created post.  Deadline for applications: September 17th, 2019.

Duration: 3 years with possibility of extension

Duty station: Bogota, Colombia. Travel inside the country and follow-up of grants/grantees will be an important part of the work. International travels will also be required.

The tasks include, but are not limited to

  • Lead the process of establishing a team in Colombia (initially 4-5 people) and set up an office.
  • Lead the strategy process for the NHRF for its Colombia work, including fundraising and communication work in line with the NHRF overall strategies.
  • Liaisons with and reporting to donors
  • Work dynamically with the grantees, and develop work, capacity building and follow-up based on needs and the situation on the ground.
  • Conduct risk assessments and risk reduction measures for the NHRF and its grantees.

Official qualifications (must have)

  • Master’s degree in social science, law, economics, or relevant field (can be compensated with long relevant leadership experience in funds mechanism).
  • Fluent in Spanish and Norwegian (might also be another Scandinavian language), good level of English needed.
  • Proven leadership experience, including leading a team/staff (min. 3-5 years)
  • Experience in working with civil society, grant making and funding mechanisms to civil society, including capacity building and networking.
  • Experience in handling donors and funds including from the Norwegian/Nordic governments.
  • Experience from Colombia, and possibly the region, when it comes to civil society and human rights defense/work.
  • Results-oriented and experience with Learning, monitoring and evaluation (LME) processes, previous work with Theories of Change is an advantage.

Please send your CV and a letter to sandra.petersen@nhrf.no

https://nhrf.no/article/2019/new-position-country-director-colombia?fbclid=IwAR2rNP4fbvZ6qlDkpQuXhKDcqYeILNzhkSjg2RIsh5ii-Hl0vLXtTmlyewY

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Award for human rights defenders by PBI UK to Kenyan and Colombian defenders

June 23, 2019

Kenyan social justice activist Naomi Barasa and Colombian human rights lawyer Daniel Prado have won the first annual Henry Brooke Awards for Human Rights Defenders, created in 2018 by PBI UK and pro bono legal network the Alliance for Lawyers at Risk.

These awards are in honour of the life and legacy of Sir Henry Brooke – barrister at Fountain Court Chambers, founder of the Alliance for Lawyers at Risk and patron of PBI UK – who passed away in January 2018. They are presented annually to defenders who encapsulate the qualities Sir Henry most admired and reflected in his own life: selflessness, courage, and commitment to seeking justice for the oppressed and the marginalised. The award winners were selected by a panel of leading figures from the UK legal and human rights communities. For more on this award, see: http://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/awards/henry-brooke-awards-for-human-rights-defenders

Naomi Barasa was selected for the award in recognition of her remarkable determination and commitment to grassroots human rights work in the most disadvantaged social circumstances. Born in an informal settlement on the outskirts of Nairobi, Naomi was a close witness to street violence, police brutality, impunity and the overwhelming inequality of the slums. Her journey as a human rights defender has embedded her in the struggle to improve living conditions for Nairobi’s 2.5 million slum dwellers. Naomi was instrumental in the campaign that led to the passage of the Sexual Offences Act in 2006, and has acted as Campaigns Manager for the Right to Adequate Housing with Amnesty International since 2009. She has contributed to the adoption of legislation such as the Housing Bill 2011, the Evictions and Resettlement Bill and the Slum Upgrading & Prevention Policy. What motivates her work, she says, is “the resilience of the suffering people and the desire to see a different world. A world that has a mathematics of justice, not of inequality.”

Daniel Prado was selected as an example of a lawyer who has defied huge personal risk in order to pursue justice for the victims of human rights violations, oppose impunity and defend the rights of marginalised communities against powerful interests. He began his career by providing legal support to the family members of victims of enforced disappearance in the early 1990s and currently works with the Colombian NGO the Inter-Church Justice and Peace Commission (CIJP). Among other emblematic cases, Daniel represents victims of paramilitarism in the case of Los Doce Apóstoles (The Twelve Apostles), in which Santiago Uribe, brother of former President and Senator Alvaro Uribe Velez, stands accused of creating paramilitary groups responsible for more than 500 murders. Daniel’s involvement in this and other high-profile cases has seen him exposed to death threats, harassment and a public campaign of defamation and slander. Speaking of his work, he has said: “The risks in Colombia are unstoppable. I have taken many cases that have had consequences for a lot of people… we live in a constant state of anxiety about what can happen to us.”

PBI provides security and advocacy support to both Naomi Barasa and Daniel Prado, to help mitigate the risks they face as a result of their human rights work.

 

 

https://peacebrigades.org.uk/news/2018-11-14/naomi-barasa-and-daniel-prado-win-first-annual-henry-brooke-awards

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Three award-winning Colombian human rights defenders on a European tour to raise awareness

May 29, 2019

Prize winners Germán Graciano Posso and Genaro de Jesús Graciano with Verdiana Garcia from the Church of Sweden and Cesar Grajales, Diakonia Sweden Colombia Program. Photo: LWF/S. Gallay
Prize winners Germán Graciano Posso and Genaro de Jesús Graciano with Verdiana Garcia from the Church of Sweden and Cesar Grajales, Diakonia Sweden Colombia Program. Photo: LWF/S. Gallay

Three award-winning Colombian human rights defenders visited the Lutheran World Federation on 27-28 May as part of a European tour to raise awareness of the dangers and difficulties faced by so many people working for justice and peace in the country today. According to the Somos Defensores network which monitors attacks against human rights defenders, 2018 was one of the worst years ever for these activists and social leaders in Colombia, with over 800 attacks and 155 murders reported. [https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2019/04/26/somos-defensores-in-colombia-publishes-annual-report-2018-worst-ever/]

The three are recipients of the 2018 National Human Rights Defenders award, presented by the Church of Sweden and the Swedish faith-based organization Diakonia, with the support of the Swedish government. Its goal is to draw international attention to struggles of those working for human rights, especially those located in isolated, grassroots communities/

Germán Graciano Posso, legal representative of the San José de Apartadó Peace Community in the northwest of Colombia, shared stories of over 300 members and supporters of his community who have been murdered in the past two decades. The small farming community of some 600 people was founded in 1997 at the height of the conflict between the government and members of the two main guerrilla groups, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN)… Germán said he and the community “had high hopes with the country’s peace process that everything would change for the better” but that has not happened. The paramilitary presence has been growing in the past months, he said, and young people continue to be recruited into their ranks, an issue that has been acknowledged by the Ombudsman office.

Dolis Estela Valencia is a leading member of the Black and Afro-Descendant Community Council of Alto Mira y Fronteras in Tumaco, on the Pacific coast close to the border with Ecuador. The Council represents 42 local communities, working to support the Afro-Colombian people whose collective land rights were recognized by the government in 1993. Despite that legal recognition, Dolis shared her experience of death threats, forced displacements and assassinations of those struggling to defend their land and livelihoods Farmers in this community are trying to grow cocoa beans, bananas and other traditional crops instead of the coca leaves that drive Colombia’s lucrative drug trafficking industry. Her community is included in the government program for the substitution of illegal crops as part of the peace accords.

Genaro de Jesús Graciano is legal representative of a socio-environmental organization, Movimiento Ríos Vivos in Antioquia which includes 15 grassroots communities affected by the giant Ituango hydroelectric dam project. Plans for the 220-meter high dam across the Cauca river were completed a decade ago and construction began in 2011, but Genaro said the project –one of the largest of its kind in Latin America – has been flawed from the start…Genaro and his organization have filed official complaints and requests for compensation from the construction company and shareholders, the Empresas Públicas de Medellin and the regional Government of Antioquia. Besides, the national environment authority (ANLA) has issued official warnings about the dangers of this project which have been disregarded. In the meantime, 5 environmental leaders have been killed, while many others have been the targets of death threats, discrimination and exclusion from public debates about the future of the dam.

As well as sharing stories during an encounter at LWF headquarters and meeting UN special rapporteurs in Geneva, Germán, Dolis and Genaro were also visiting Berlin, Stockholm and Uppsala as part of the 16 to 29 May European tour. A fourth prize winner, 78-year-old community leader Maria Ligia Chaverra, was unable to take part in the tour because of health reasons. All of them underline the importance of the Human Rights Defenders prize in shining a much-needed spotlight on their stories and bringing international attention to the plight of their communities.

https://www.lutheranworld.org/news/dangerous-task-defending-human-rights-colombia

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