On April 25, we hosted a webinar with three human rights defenders about the impact of COVID-19 on human rights in Colombia. In such a challenging time, we were grateful to hear from folks around the world about their concerns for human rights defenders and to discuss...
Our Partners
Grassroots Peacebuilding and Reconciliation
by Michaela Söllinger, IFOR Austria (This article was also published with minor changes in the Austrian magazine Spinnrad, Vol. 4 (2019)) Picture 1: Sunset over Guaviare harbor Picture 2: Fishing pond in main hamlet of San José de León How does reconciliation happen?...
Meet our new accompanier: Enrique
Enrique is a social leader, human rights defender and member of the victims’ network Communities Constructing Peace in the Communities (CONPAZ). In 2017, he was selected the Human Rights Defender of the Year in the national awards for human rights, granted by Diakonía...
Meet our new accompanier: María Eugenia
María Eugenia is from the outskirts of Popayán, in the department of Cauca. She studied ethno-education at the University of Cauca. Her family member was a victim of an extrajudicial execution, which motivated her to get involved in peace-building work. She is a...
Reflections on Returning to the Peace Community
by Tom Power When we arrived in the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó for Christmas, former accompanier Emily and I didn’t really know what to expect. Neither of us had been there for some time, but we were excited that the Peace Community was going to have...
“There will never be true peace, until we eliminate hatred within our hearts as a country.”- Peace Community Leader
The following piece and pictures were originally published in Spanish by our Accompanier Dianna E Almanza. When I see the sunrise, I see how mother nature awakens around me, As if time stood still, As if this very precise moment that I am living, were to last for a...
Real Lives Behind the Increasing Numbers of Killings of Human Rights Defenders
During the last months we have been repeatedly alarmed about the dramatically increasing rates of threats and attacks against human rights defenders in Colombia. Since the start of 2018, over 100 Human Rights defenders have been killed. Seemingly, the situation has...
Ongoing Crisis in the Naya River
On May 11th and 12th, FORPP participated in a humanitarian mission to the Naya River, along with our partners the Intereclesial Commission of Peace and Justice and CONPAZ, as well as the other accompaniment organizations PBI and Witness for Peace. We went to observe...