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Urgent Action
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Threats to the Life of Lilia Solano of Colombia |
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KAIROS is extremely concerned about the life and personal safety of Lilia Solano, a partner in Colombia, after hearing reports that she has received death threats. Lilia is a human rights activist, an academic and a member of the Mennonite church who is presently director of the church-based human rights organization, Proyecto Justicia y Vida and a professor of social and political science at the National University in Bogota.
Lilia received telephone death threats after she staged a protest in national Congress against possible government plans to grant immunity from prosecution to army-backed paramilitary groups. As three national paramilitary leaders addressed Congress on July 28, Lilia and another human rights activist, Ivan Cepeda, staged a protest inside the chamber and were evicted by police. Since then she has received several death threats, and the offices of Proyecto Justicia y Vida where she works have reportedly been kept under constant surveillance by unknown men.
KAIROS believes that Lilia’s life is in danger.
Lilia is well known to KAIROS and the Canadian churches. Many staff and members of the KAIROS network have met her. She met with the KAIROS and World Council of Churches delegations at the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre in 2003 and in Mumbai in 2004. She has been to Canada on a number of occasions and participated in events organized by KAIROS and the churches, and in meetings with the Canadian government. In May 2001, she appeared as a witness before the Sub-Committee on Human Rights and International Development of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade.
The current death threats towards Lilia Solano need to be seen in the context of the increasing risk to human rights defenders in Colombia. Human rights organizations are frequently labelled as guerrilla collaborators or supporters by the security forces and their paramilitary allies. These organizations are thus presented as legitimate targets in the counter-insurgency war. Such accusations are often followed by serious human rights violations such as 'disappearances', murders or torture, committed by army-backed paramilitary groups, and also by members of the security forces. Armed opposition groups have also been responsible for threats against and killings of human rights defenders. KAIROS is sending a letter on Lilia’s case to the Colombian government, and it will be available soon on our website, www.kairoscanada.org, in the “Media Room”.
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What you can do |
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Given this alarming situation and the present danger to our partner
Lilia Solano, KAIROS urges you to write to the Colombian government
in your own words, making the following points:
State that you are concerned for the safety of Lilia Solano and
other workers of the Proyecto Justicia y Vida, who have reportedly
received death threats. Urge the authorities to offer them effective
protection, so that they can carry on their legitimate and important
work in defence of human rights;
Note that Lilia Solano is a KAIROS partner and a valued colleague of the ecumenical community in Canada and throughout Latin America;
Call for a full and impartial investigation into this and all other cases where human rights defenders have been threatened, with the results made public and those responsible brought to justice;
Urge the government to fully implement the principles of the Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, adopted the UN General Assembly on 9 December 1998.
Send Letters to:
President of the Republic of Colombia:
Senor Presidente Alvaro Uribe Velez
Presidente de la Republica
Palacio de Narino
Carrera 8 No.7-26
Bogota, Colombia
Fax: 011-571-342-0592 / 011-571-337-5890
Email: auribe@presidencia.gov.co
Salutation: Dear President Uribe/ Excmo. Sr. Presidente Uribe
Send Copies to:
- Minister of Defense:
Dr. Jorge Alberto Uribe
El Dorado con Carrera. 52 CAN,
Santa fe de Bogotá.
Fax: 011-571-222-1874
E-mail: siden@mindefensa.gov.co, infprotocol@mindefensa.gov.co, mdn@cable.net.co
- Attorney General:
Dr. Luis Camilo Osorio, Fiscal General de la Nacion
Fiscalia General de la Nacion
Diagonal 22B 52-01 (Ciudad Salite)
Bogota, Colombia
Fax 011-571-570-2022 / 011-571-570-2000
(you will hear a message in Spanish asking you to enter extension 2017)
email:contacto@fiscalia.gov.co; denuncie@fiscalia.gov.co
- Colombian Embassy in Canada
Mr. Guillermo Mejia Castillo,
Charge d'Affaires for Colombia
360 Albert Street, Suite 1002
Ottawa, Ontario K1R 7X7
Fax: (613) 230-4416
E-mail: embajada@embajadacolombia.ca
- Canadian Ambassador to Colombia
His Excellency Jean-Marc Duval, Ambassador
Cra. 7 No. 115-33 Piso 14
Edificio ABN-AMRO House
Bogotá
Fax: 011-571-657-9910
jean-marc.duval@dfait-maeci.gc.ca
Please send a “bcc” copy to Rachel Warden at KAIROS: rwarden
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