ABColombia, alongside more than 60 international civil society organisations, has signed a letter to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, drawing attention to the situation of the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó, as well as the serious risks faced by those who defend human rights due to the presence of neo-paramilitary groups in the region of Urabá. The letter calls for measures to ensure the security and physical integrity of the members of the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó.

The Peace Community of San José de Apartadó has been the beneficiary of precautionary measures from the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights since 1997. Since 2000, it has been the beneficiary of provisional measures from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. On 6 December 2016, the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights declared the case of presumed responsibility of the Colombian State in the multiple human rights violations suffered by the Peace Community since 1997 admissible.

In this letter ABColombia and more than 60 other European and international civil society organisations express their concern that attacks like the one against the legal representative of the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó, Germán Graciano Posso, which took place Urabá on 29 December 2017, might happen again in the coming weeks and months, due to the upcoming elections. To read the full letter and see which organisations have signed it, click on the buttons below.

The signatories request that the Court once again insists that the Colombian state fulfills its national and international obligations, that it respects the orders relating to the Peace Community issued by the Constitutional Court, as well as the provisional measures, and that it immediately:

1. Carries out an investigation that establishes the responsibilities in all the denounced incidents regarding the complicity between members of the XVII Brigade of the National Army of Colombia and the National Police of Urabá with paramilitary structures and / or other criminal structures that operate in San José de Apartadó.
2. Carries out an investigation leading to sanctions for public servants who operate in contrary to Directive 002 of the Office of the Attorney General and continue to stigmatize the work of human rights defenders.
3. Complying with Court Order 164/2012 issued by the Constitutional Court, takes adequate and concerted measures to guarantee the life, security and physical integrity of the members of the Peace Community of San Jose de Apartado; and in general, social leaders and human rights defenders in Colombia.

Copies of this letter were sent to:

• The President of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
• The Human Rights Rapporteur of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
• The Office of the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights in Colombia
• The UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders
• The UN Verification Mission in Colombia
• The Vice-President of the Republic of Colombia
• The Cancillería de Colombia
• The Presidential Advisor on Human Rights
• The Minister of the Interior
• The Inspector-General
• The Human Rights Ombudsman
• The National Security Guarantees Commission