Protection International, OIDHACO and 22 other civil society organisations call on the EU to pressure the Colombian state to protect MRVA
Brussels, 22 May 2018 The International Office for Human Rights – Acción Colombia (OIDHACO) and the signatory organizations wish to express their deep concern to the European Union, its Member States, Switzerland and Norway about the situation of the population affected by the Hidroituango project in Colombia and the Ríos Vivos Antioquia Movement (MRVA), made up […]
“Conviteros”: a journey into the fight of the communities in Cauca region, Colombia
16 May 2018 The biodiversity of a territory, the Community Council of the Guajuí River, in the Colombian Pacific, the […]
Protection International participates in the presentation of the IACHR report
Bogotá, 28 February 2018 – In the framework of the 167th special session of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in Bogotá, Colombia, Protection International participated in a presentation at the launching event and round table convened by the IACHR. CEJIL, Pensamiento y Acción Social (PAS), the Fundación para la libertad de prensa (FLIP), […]
Collective protection of HRDs: defenders of the right to land and territory
Protection International, in collaboration with its Colombian partner Pensamiento y Acción Social (PAS), launches an innovative publication exploring broader approaches to the protection of human rights defenders, particularly those defending the right to land and territory: COLLECTIVE PROTECTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS OF THE RIGHT TO LAND AND TERRITORY – CONCEPTUAL DEVELOPMENTS AND METHODOLOGICAL CHALLENGES. […]
David Ravelo is freed after nearly seven years in prison
Colombian human rights defender David Ravelo Crespo left prison on 20th June 2017. As reported by Peace Brigades International (PBI), Ravelo was detained and incarcerated on 14th September 2010, accused of being the intellectual author of the 1991 murder of David Núñez Cala, a civil servant from Barrancabermeja. On 5th December 2012, the Specialised Criminal […]
Manual to prevent the criminalisation of defenders of the right to land and territory (2016)
It is the result of the accompaniment that PAS and PI carried out with peasant, Afro-descendant and Indigenous communities in different regions of Colombia and is part of the effort carried out by PI to characterise and prevent the phenomenon of criminalisation worldwide.
Colombian defender David Ravelo: 5 years in prison
While evidence of his innocence outweighs the allegations against him, Mr. Ravelo remains in detainment. There is little integrity in his conviction, starting with the dependability of the two paramilitary witnesses. Throughout Mr. Ravelo’s trial, these two witnesses contradicted themselves and the more than 30 testimonies from other individuals in the city of Barrancabermeja presented […]
Colombia: The Role of Women in The Defence of The Territory
First Regional Meeting of Women from the Network Protection of Magdalena Medio. Since 2013, Protection International and Pensamiento y Acción Social (PAS)—PD COL— have been driving a networking strategy with five rural communities in the region of Magdalena Medio, which are affected by high levels of risk resulting from land tenure disputes. As a part […]
Joint Declaration: International organizations request that attention be paid to the case against David Ravelo
As International NGOs and Networks, we urge that the Colombian authorities order that David Ravelo be released immediately. On 11th of February last year, the follow-up of the demand for annulment of the judicial process against the human rights defender David Ravelo Crespo, member of the Regional Corporation for the Defense of Human Rights in Magdalena […]
In pictures: The long struggle for land rights in Las Pavas (Colombia)
Defending territory is one activity that generates risk for human rights defenders in Colombia; during 2013 alone, 37 human rights defenders were murdered, and at least 30% of these deaths were related to land restitution. The majority of these assassinations are the responsibility of paramilitary groups, now named the “anti-land restitution army”, which operate in […]