On 19 September 2017, it was announced that the Catholic Church, along with 40 to 50 members of the Security Council’s UN Mission to Colombia, will monitor and verify the temporary bi-lateral ceasefire between the Colombian Government and the the National Liberation Army (ELN). The temporary bi-lateral ceasefire between the second largest guerrilla group, the...
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Parliamentary Delegation to Colombia August 2017
The Delegation consisted of two meembers of the Dáil (Irish Parliament): Fiona O’Loughlin TD, and Senator Catherine Noone, and one member of the UK Parliament: Baroness Jean Coussins. They were accompanied to Choco by a representative of the UK Embassy in Colombia, Tom Newton and the Scottish National Agency for International Development (SCIAF), Christian Aid...
ABColombia endorses legal challenge
ABColombia, together with the Law Society of England and Wales and the Colombian Caravana UK Lawyers Group, has endorsed an Amicus Curiae regarding the constitutionality of Legislative Act 1 of 2017 in a case currently pending in front of the Colombian Constitutional Court. The Preamble of the Peace Accord acknowledges that the agreements need...
Human Rights Defenders’ Security Deteriorates
Two environmental human rights defenders were shot in Cajamarca, Tolima on Friday 28 July 2017. The two environmental defenders working for the Young Peoples Social and Environmental Collective of Cajamarca (Colectivo Socio-Ambiental Juvenil de Cajamarca – COSAJUCA) were shot at and narrowly escaped being injured or killed in Cajamarca on Friday, 28 July 2017. COSAJUCA...
UN Security Council Establish Second UN Mission to Colombia
Today, 10 July 2017, the United Nations Security Council approved a second United Nations (UN) Mission in Colombia via Resolution 2366 (2017). The Second Mission’s mandate is to verify the reincorporation of the FARC-EP into civilian life and the implementation of individual and collective security measures in regions most affected by the conflict. The new...
Human Rights Essential Component for UN Security Council Political Mission
ABColombia welcomes the end of the process of the Laying Down of Arms by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia – FARC). The next crucial challenge is to get the Mandate right for the second phase of the United Nations Security Council’s Special Political Mission to Colombia. This requires the...
Supreme Court frees Indigenous Leader Feliciano Valencia
ABColombia welcomes the decision by Colombia’s Supreme Court to acquit prominent Colombian indigenous leader Feliciano Valencia after he was arrested in 2015 under an alleged kidnapping charge. Background The 2008 original ruling made by Popayan’s Superior Court, sentenced Feliciano Valencia to eighteen years in prison for allegedly kidnapping a Colombian soldier in the department of...
Freedom for David Ravelo amidst Surge in Threats against Human Rights Defenders
Judicial attacks against Human Rights Defenders continue in Colombia despite the signing of a Peace Accord with the FARC Guerrillas. However, ABColombia received welcome news that on 20 June 2017, David Ravelo Crespo, a Colombian Human Rights Defender, was released conditionally after being incarcerated for nearly seven years. Whilst the case continues, this is...
FARC Finalise Laying Down of Arms
On 26 June 2017 the Colombian Government and the FARC-EP guerrilla completed the third phase in the process of the laying down of arms. According to the UN Mission in Colombia, they have registered the handing over of 7,132 of individual arms. The only ones that now remain in the 26 camps are those...