Colombia: Death threats against human rights organisation Corporación Sisma Mujer

Members of the human rights organisation Corporación Sisma Mujer (Sisma Women's Corporation) have received death threats from a Colombian paramilitary group. The Sisma Women's Corporation is a human rights organisation in Bogotá that works to promote and protect the rights of women in Colombia.

Further Information

On 27 January 2010, an email was sent to the Sisma Women's Corporation from the paramilitary group Bloque Central de las Aguilas Negras Verdad y Muerte (Central Bloc of the Black Eagles Truth and Death) that said "…Continuamos declarándolos objetivo militar y [sic] plan de eliminación contra los líderes guerrilleros que se cubren el rostro con la fachada de ONG y Organizaciones de desplazados y quines les ayudan bajo el paradigma de defensores de derechos humanos y quienes obstaculizan la politica del gobierno” (“… We continue to declare as military targets and [sic] elimination plan against those guerrilla leaders who hide behind the facade of NGOs and organisations of displaced people and those who help you under the banner of the human rights paradigm and who hinder the government’s policies").

Human rights organisations in Colombia have often received threats from paramilitary groups, and specifically from the Black Eagles. In November 2009 the Sisma Women's Corporation issued a press release in which they condemned threats made in an email dated 29 October 2009 against a number of people working with communities who are forced to leave their homes as a result of the armed conflict. The email received on 27 January also included the names of more than 30 people, some of those who had also been named in the October threat.

Front Line believes that the threats against the Sisma Women's Corporation are directly related to its peaceful and legitimate activities in defence of human rights. Front Line fears for the physical and psychological integrity of the members of the Sisma Women's Corporation.