8 March 2019. Women in Colombia are peacebuilders, human rights defenders, land and environmental activists. Every defender has her own story. Women defenders come from all walks of life: they are Afro-Colombian or Indigenous women; LGBTI activists; lawyers; journalists and campesinas. Many women became human rights defenders as a result of their experience of being...
On average, in the first three weeks of January 2019, one Human Rights Defender (HRD) was killed every three days in Colombia.[1] As 2019 starts, Colombian Civil Society Organisations face a continuing and escalating number of threats and attacks. The number of defenders killed continues to rise and the extremely high levels of impunity for...
To address the main challenges and progress with the peace agreement’s implementation, ABColombia is hosting an event focused on women’s rights in London, bringing victims, researchers and activists together to debate the issue. London – 25 February 2019: Colombia has a unique opportunity, in the implementation of the Final Peace Accord (FPA), to renegotiate women’s...
Introduction The Afro-descendant and Indigenous communities living along the River Atrato in Chocó, as a result of the state’s failure to act to protect their rights, chose to use constitutional law, a “Tutela”, in an attempt to force the state to comply with its obligations to protect their fundamental rights and the rights of the...
In August 2018 British Parliamentarians visited Matarratón in an effort to understand the complex situation of land. They found that peasant farmer communities and Indigenous Peoples despite the Land Restitution Law (2011) and the Peace Accord (2016) were facing a dangerous struggle to get their land rights recognised by State Authorities. The history of Matarratón...
Members of the British Parliament participating in the August 2018 Delegation were: Chris Bryant MP and Patrick Grady MP. MP’s Conversation in Villavicencio with rural women: Diana, Yenny and Yuanitza. A peasant farmer, an ex-member of FARC and a human rights defender. Other women joined them later in the discussion. We asked the women what...
ABColombia members express their grave concern regarding the assassination of human rights defender and social leader, José Antonio Navas. Mr Navas, a partner of Christian Aid, and a member of the Campesino Association of Catatumbo (Ascamcat), was murdered by unknown gunmen who shot him and fled. Mr Navas, was 55 years old and the father...
