Urgent Action for Colombia Feb24

Amnesty International has issued a new Urgent Action on behalf of Human Rights and Environmental Defenders at risk in Colombia. As many of you know, more Human Rights Defenders are killed in Colombia than in any other country in the world. Please forward this action to your members and supporters.

On 1 February the paramilitary Gaitanist Self-Defence Forces of Colombia issued a death threat to members of human rights, territory, land, and environmental defender organizations in the Magdalena Medio region of Colombia. These include CREDHOS (Regional Corporation for the Defence of Human Rights) and FEDEPESAN (Federation of environmental groups). This follows a threat by FARC dissident guerrillas on the life of the president of CREDHOS, among other human rights defenders. We call on the Colombian state to provide timely and comprehensive protection to the threatened organizations.

Please write to Luis Fernando Velasco, Minister of the Interior, Carrera 8 No. 7-83, Bogotá DC, Colombia. Email:  luis.velasco@mininterior.gov.co. X: @velascoluisf

Please write in your own words or use the following template:

Dear Minister,

I am writing to express my deep concern regarding the security situation of human rights, territorial, land, and environmental defenders in Colombia. I am particularly concerned for members of Federación de Pescadores Artesanales Ambientalistas y Turísticos del Departamento de Santander (FEDEPESAN) and the Corporación Regional para la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos (CREDHOS), located in Barrancabermeja. We are deeply troubled that these organisations have received direct threats from armed groups operating in this region. They have been stigmatized as collaborators with other criminal groups in the area and referred to as ‘Military Targets’.

Amnesty International has documented the work on human rights and the consequent risk suffered by these organisations since 2020. Despite public appeals and the presentation of Amnesty’s concerns, both in face-to-face meetings with authorities and through actions on social and digital platforms, these individuals and their communities continue to be attacked for defending their rights, and the state’s response remains insufficient.

I urge you to fulfil the Ministry of the Interior’s duty to coordinate actions aimed at the protection of individuals and organizations defending human rights. These include:

• Protection measures provided by the National Protection Unit
• Implementing the collective protection policy established in Decree 660 of 2018
• Establishing spaces for inter-institutional coordination and collaborating with civil society such as the Territorial Guarantees Table of the Magdalena Medio
• Coordination with local authorities responsible for emergency response
• Providing effective protection routes for individuals at risk
• All in collaboration with other state agencies such as the Ombudsman’s Office and the Attorney General’s Office, for a comprehensive state response.

Thank you,

Yours sincerely,

Please CC in franklin.castaneda@mininterior.gov.co;  mariaf.perez@mininterior.gov.co;  correspondencia@mininterior.gov.co;  servicioalciudadano@mininterior.gov.co. They are the official correspondence accounts of the Ministry and personnel of the Human Rights Directorate at the Ministry.

Please send copies of your email to the Colombian Ambassador in London: Roy Barreras Montealegre, 3 Hans Crescent, London SW1X 0LN  elondres@cancilleria.gov.co  and roy.barreras@cancilleria.gov.co

Many thanks for taking action