Published by WOLA on March 10, 2020.
WOLA’s latest monthly urgent update on the situation of human rights defenders and social leaders in Colombia.
Colombian Social Leaders at Great Risk in Chocó, Arauca, Cauca and Elsewhere
Reports tagged “Human Rights”
Links to long-form information about peace, security, and human rights in Colombia
Colombia: Abuses Amid Massive Demonstrations
Published by Human Rights Watch on March 10, 2020.
Documentation of abuses that Colombian National Police committed during mostly peaceful demonstrations in late 2019.
Indígenas asediados por el mercurio en Chocó
Publicado por Semana el 9 de marzo de 2020.
In the Papayo indigenous reserve in the Bajo San Juan River region of southern Chocó, the community is showing severe signs of poisoning. This is due to pollutants dumped in the water by illegal precious-metals mining tied to armed groups.
Retos Humanitarios 2020: Balance Anual de Colombia
The ICRC’s annual overview of the humanitarian situation in Colombia. Finds an alarming 2019 increase in landmine victims, confinements, and attacks on medical personnel.
Annual Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Published by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Colombia field office on February 26, 2020.
The annual report of the UN agency, which has maintained a strong reporting and technical assistance presence in Colombia since the 1990s. (Link to Spanish and English versions at hchr.org.co)
Informe Anual de la Alta Comisionada de la onu Para los Derechos Humanos Sobre Colombia
Slideshow accompanying the annual report of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights’ Colombia field office. (Link at hchr.org.co)
Los horrores del Ejército en Dabeiba
Publicado por Semana el 24 de febrero de 2020.
Discussions with victims in the Antioquia town where investigators from the JEP are unearthing scores of bodies believed to be the victims of “false positive” killings committed by Colombia’s army.
Informe anual 2019: Callar y fingir, la censura de siempre
Publicado por la Fundación para la Libertad de Prensa, 8 de febrero de 2020.
An annual report on the state of press freedom in Colombia by the Fundación para la Libertad de Prensa.
Ongoing Human Rights Violations in Colombia
Published by WOLA on February 7, 2020.
Since our last report on January 9, WOLA received the following cases of concern.
Comentarios del Estado Colombiano al Informe del Relator Especial sobre la situación de los defensores de los derechos humanos relativo a su Misión a Colombia
Publicado por el Gobierno de Colombia el 27 de enero de 2020.
The government’s point-by-point response to the December 26, 2019 report of the UN Human Rights Council’s Special Rapporteur for Human Rights Defenders. (Link at undocs.org)
‘The Guerrillas Are the Police’: Social Control and Abuses by Armed Groups in Colombia’s Arauca Province and Venezuela’s Apure State
Published by Human Rights Watch, January 22, 2020.
Abuses including murder, forced labor, child recruitment, and rape are often committed as part of the groups’ strategy to control the social, political, and economic life of Arauca and Apure. Impunity for such abuses is the rule.
“El que diga que no siente miedo, tiene huevo”: periodistas de Semana
Publicado por El Espectador el 18 de enero de 2020.
Reporters who broke some of Semana’s big recent stories about human rights abuse and corruption in Colombia’s Army tell of terrifying threats, surveillance, and communications intercepts.
Nota Informativa Defensoras y defensores asesinados durante 2019
The UN High Commissioner’s Colombia field office provides its estimate of human rights defenders murdered in 2019, indirectly contradicting the Duque government’s claims of a 25% decrease in such killings. (Link at hchr.org.co)
Chuzadas sin cuartel
Publicado por Semana el 13 de enero de 2020.
In a blockbuster scoop, the Colombian newsmagazine reveals that Army intelligence units have been hacking the communications of, following, and even threatening, Supreme Court justices, opposition politicians, human rights defenders, military whistleblowers—and even Semana’s own reporters.
Colombia Update: Protests, Bojayá, and Security for Social Leaders
Published by WOLA on January 10, 2020.
A summary of the cases of concern WOLA received since November 2019 until the present.
Crímenes en la Sierra: el paraíso perdido en el que manda el grupo paramilitar Los Pachencas
Publicado por Semana el 6 de enero de 2020.
A paramilitary group tracing its lineage back to extradited leader Hernán Giraldo is responsible for the murder of two environmentalists in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta region.
La otra cara de la guerra en Chocó: el reclutamiento forzado
Publicado por Verdad Abierta el 5 de enero de 2020.
“Boys, girls, and adolescents in indigenous reserves and Afro-Colombian community councils are those most pursued” by the ELN and the Gulf Clan paramilitaries in Chocó.
Visit to Colombia: Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders
Published by the UN Human Rights Council on December 26, 2019.
A report to the UN Human Rights Council analyzing the risks faced by human rights defenders and social leaders in Colombia, and the Colombian government’s efforts to protect them. (Link at undocs.org)