Human Rights Defenders Under Threat 
Colombia: Human Rights Defenders Under Threat
Colombian and International Campaign for the Right to Defend Human Rights
We are inviting you to sign onto the International Campaign for the protection of Colombia’s human rights defenders.
Individuals and organisations can now sign up via the website www.colombiadefenders.org
As you know, in Colombia, being a human rights defender is a dangerous, often deadly job. Those working on issues ranging from environmental issues to the rights of women, campesinos, the indigenous and other victims of the armed conflict receive threats to their physical and psychological integrity and that of their families, on a daily basis. And, things are getting worse.
The situation became more terrifying when we learned that over the last seven years the Presidential intelligence agency (known as DAS), has systematically and without warrant tapped the phones and emails of Colombia’s major human rights groups, journalists, and even Supreme Court judges. DAS is alleged to have collaborated with paramilitaries against them, restricted their international travel, threatened and brought baseless prosecutions against them - all to “neutralize and restrict” defenders’ work.
Colombian officials have widely targeted and persecuted legitimate defenders, calling them a threat to ‘democratic security.’ Officials have continuously publicly discredited defenders, accusing them of ties to guerrilla groups or being motivated by political gain. The government has brought baseless criminal charges against them, often based on false information from military and police intelligence files. In the context of an armed conflict this has not only resulted in greater stigmatization of social and non-governmental organizations, but has also increased an environment of hostility characterized by waves of assassinations, forced disappearances, sexual violence, death threats, raids and the theft of sensitive information. Those responsible for violations against defenders are almost never punished and impunity remains the norm.
In response to these continuous and escalating threats, Colombian human rights organizations began brainstorming ideas of how they could bring coordinated and sustained pressure on the Colombian government to really address these issues. They thought of the idea of creating both a national and international campaign to achieve this. This idea was shared with a number of international organizations, who thus seeing the urgency of this issue, decided to launch the idea of an international campaign (the national part of the campaign will be organized by Colombian organizations).
The aim of the campaign is to bring sustained and coordinated pressure on the Colombian government in order to achieve a positive lasting and significant change for the country’s human rights defenders.
The campaign will address five key areas where change is needed in order to improve guarantees and protection for defenders. These areas are:
1. Impunity in cases involving defenders.
2. Misuse of State Intelligence against defenders.
3. Systematic stigmatization of defenders by government officials.
4. Unfounded criminal proceedings brought against defenders.
5. Problems with the protection program for defenders at risk.
A number of Colombian, US, UK and European organizations have worked together to develop a Declaration containing the key messages of the campaign and key Recommendations for policy changes on the five issues addressed above.
Read the Declaration
Read the Recommendations
Both of these documents have been consulted with dozens of Colombian organizations. We are asking organizations to sign onto these two documents, as well as a letter to President Uribe (which will also be sent to other key members of government) with the key messages and recommendations. We hope to have many organizations, church groups and prominent individuals from around the world signed onto the campaign to show a united front to the Colombian government, thus putting more pressure on them to make this issue a priority and to meet the recommendations.
The campaign was officially launched in Colombia on September 9 to coincide with the UN Special Rapporteur’s visit to Colombia, and advocacy events will be organized over the next two-years, at different times in the U.S., U.K. and Europe.
What does it mean if you sign on? What is involved?
When signing onto the campaign your name or that of your organization/church will be included in the letter to the Colombian government mentioned above and on campaign documents, website, etc., which will express these key messages and recommendations. You may request to see all campaign documents before putting your name to them.
We would also ask that wherever possible, you incorporate these key messages and recommendations into your work on human rights defenders. The idea is to move away from case-by-case reactions on defenders issues, to sustained advocacy for real policy changes.
Furthermore, we ask that you put the campaign logo and informational material on your website, referencing the campaign. We ask that you link www.colombiadefenders.org on your website and blog.
We will be organizing advocacy (policy and grass-roots) around the campaign in Colombia, U.S., U.K. and Europe over the rest of this year and the next and we would welcome your ideas and involvement. Of course we understand time and mandate limitations and thus invite whatever level of involvement is possible for you and your organization.
Some of the NGOs involved in the campaign:
Human Rights First, US Office on Colombia, Christian Aid, International Office for Human Rights - Action on colombia (OIDHACO), ABColombia (Oxfam GB, CAFOD, Trocaire, SCIAF, Christian Aid UKI), Plataforma de Organizaciones de Desarrollo Europeas en Colombia (PODEC) and DIAL.
For a full list of organisations visit the Colombia Defenders website.
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Colombia: Defensores de Derechos Humanos Bajo Amenaza