Colombia

Active Cases

Colombia – Killing of Mr Edwin Legarda Vazquez, husband of human rights defender, Ms Aída Quilcué

Front Line and Human Rights First strongly condemn the murder of Mr Edwin Legarda Vazquez, husband of human rights defender, Ms Aída Quilcué, Chief Counsel of the Consejo Regional Indígena de Colombia - CRIC (The Indigenous Regional Council of Cauca), on 16 December 2008. We ask that you urge the Colombian Government to undertake a prompt, impartial investigation into the murder and to protect Ms Quilcué and her family.  

• Colombia

• colombia
• Front Line
• human rights
• human rights defender
• Mr Edwin Legarda Vazquez
• Ms Aída Quilcué

Colombia - Murder of human rights defender, Mr Joel Pérez Cárdenas

Front Line strongly condemns the murder of human rights defender, Mr Joel Pérez Cárdenas, near San Vicente del Caguán on 8 December 2008. Joel Pérez Cárdenas was one of the founders and first directors of the movement which became known as the Corporación por la Defensa de Derechos Humanos Caguán Vive (Corporation for the Defence of Human Rights in Caguán). He was the Chairman of the Junta de Acción Comunal de la Vereda Vegas Bajo Pato, (Board of Community Action of the Vereda Vegas in the region of Bajo Pato), Vice-President of the Asociación Ambiental del Bajo (The Environmental Association of Bajo Pato), and a former Councillor of San Vicente del Caguán for the Polo Democrático Alernativo (The Alternative Democratic Pole), a leftist opposition coalition.  

• Colombia

• human rights defender
• Murder

Human rights defenders in Colombia are subjected to threats, intimidation, forced disappearances, physical assaults, torture, killings, illegal searches on their homes and offices and stigmatisation as a result of their activies in defence of human rights. The perpetrators of these human rights violations are frequently armed opposition groups or paramilitary groups who claim to support the current government. Human rights defenders are often stigmatised as guerrillas or guerrilla supporters or are denoted as communists in order to discredit their legitimate and peaceful work. There is a reported trend of an increase in the number of threats received by email and that there is a growing tendency to confiscate or steal computer hard drives from the offices of human rights organisations.

The report of the UN SRSG demonstrates that groups of human rights defenders who are most targeted are “trade unionists, ethnic minorities, internally displaced persons, women, social and peasant organisations, teachers, university lecturers, students, health workers, Church representatives and sexual minorities” . Journalists who report on human rights abuses have also been subject to intimidation and attacks. Another key concern for Colombian human rights defenders is the Justice and Peace Law enacted in December 2005, to which they are strongly opposed as it has exacerbated the existing climate of impunity in the country and has allowed perpetrators of human rights violations to continue unimpeded. Ms. Hina Jilani, the UN SRSG on the situation of human rights defenders, carried out an official country visit to Colombia from 23 – 31 October 2001 and in 2004 she carried out a follow up country visit.