September 2012 - We reported in July on the Nasa indigenous mobilization to collectively evict armed groups from their territories in the southwestern Cauca department. In dramatic actions, unarmed Nasa indigenous guards carried soldiers from a post on a sacred site,...
Human Rights, Impunity and Justice
GM Workers Hunger Strike Leads to Negotiation
By Emily Schmitz Bogota, Colombia — In neat, black hand-written letters is a homemade sign, posted outside the United States embassy, which reads: ASOTRECOL — protesting General Motors 373 days since August 1, 2011. It has counted each day the Association of Injured...
Limited Ruling Paves Way for International Criminal Court
By Susana Pimiento Aftermath of a Massacre On June 5, the Antioquia State Court overturned the acquittal for four of ten Army officers in the case of the 2005 San José de Apartadó massacre and sentenced them to 34 years in prison. Though this ruling could be...
Colombia: Take action to protect peace community
By FOR Colombia “We have always said, and in that we are clear, that until this very day we are resisting. And our work is to continue resisting and defending our rights. We don’t know until when, because the truth we’ve lived in our story is this: today we are here...
The Risky Business of Defending Human Rights
By Susana Pimiento The International Verification Mission and Las Pavas From November 27 until December 2, forty people from 15 countries went to Colombia to look into how safe is to defend human rights in Colombia. The International Verification Mission on the...
Video: “My Mind is not a Military Target!” – ACOOC International Campaign
By Liza Smith Wednesday, September 21, 2011, 5:58pm Irregularities and illegalities in the process of recruitment for compulsory military service are still frequent on a daily basis in Colombia. Members of ACOOC have therefore gone on a tour in six different countries...
The Power of Granting Forgiveness
By Susana Pimiento April 9th marked the seventeenth anniversary of the killing of Manuel Cepeda Vargas, a Colombian Senator with the left-wing political party Union Patriotica (UP). For the first time, this year there was formal recognition of the wrong that occurred...
Report: Military Assistance and Human Rights: Colombia, U.S. Accountability, and Global Implications
U.S. military aid flowing to Colombia is having a direct, negative effect on the human rights of Colombians. Though the “Leahy Law” prohibits aid to military units that have committed gross violations, the United States continues to support such units in Colombia....