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Archived Urgent Action
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"It is better to act with fear than not to act because of fear." - Organización Feminina Popular, August 2001 |
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Introduction |
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We urge you to respond to threats against activists from the Organización Femenina Popular (OFP), Popular Women's Organization from the Magdalena Medio, Colombia.
The OFP is a long term partner of the human rights work of KAIROS and has recently been supported by the global partnerships programme. The OFP appears in the new KAIROS video, The Hidden Story- Confronting Colombia's Dirty War and, together with la Ruta Pacifica, a national feminist peace network in Colombia, organized the International and National Mobilization of Women against War in Barrancabermeja, Colombia in August 2001 which was accompanied by KAIROS. Dora Guzmán González, one of the women who is the subject of this urgent action, was part of a Canada-Colombia solidarity tour in March 2001 which was supported ecumenically by the churches. Over the last few months the threats and attacks against the OFP have increased. We urge you to respond rapidly to this latest urgent action.
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Background Information |
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On the night of November 10, 2001 one of the community centres of the OFP was attacked and destroyed by paramilitary forces. Since that date, paramilitary gunmen have threatened OFP activists Dora Guzmán González and Gloria Amparo Suárez. The women are due to pick out the man in charge of the 10 November attack on the OFP community centre at an identity parade that will take place in the near future. A paramilitary commander known as "el gato" ("the cat") has been detained in connection with the 10 November attack, and will appear in the identity parade.
Two gunmen reportedly came to Dora Guzmán's home on 19 November at 3.45 PM. They said that they had come on behalf of the paramilitary group Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC), United Self-defence Groups of Colombia. Dora Guzmán was out, but the men said they knew where to find her.
According to information received, fifteen minutes later, five gunmen went to an OFP women's centre, the Casa de la Mujer del Nororiente, looking for Dora Guzmán and Gloria Amparo Suárez. They reportedly said that the women needed to talk to the lawyer representing "El gato", before 5 PM, and said that "if they pick him out in the identity parade they will find themselves in serious trouble, or more serious than they are in already" ("si hacen El reconocimiento se van a meter en serios problemas, o más de de los que tienen").
As well as demolishing the OFP centre on 10 November, in the past few months paramilitaries have tried to make local people too frightened to support the OFP, by saying they are planning to attack the organization, and threatening to kill its members.
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Recommended Action |
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Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in Spanish or English, in your own words
- urging the authorities to take appropriate measures to guarantee the safety of Dora Guzmán and Gloria Amparo Suárez, members of the Organización Femenina Popular, so they can continue their legitimate work for the defence and promotion of human rights;
- calling for an immediate, impartial and full investigation into the threats against them, and for those responsible to be brought to justice;
- urging the government to adhere to its obligations regarding human rights defenders, as laid out in United Nation and Organization of American States declarations, and in line with repeated recommendations to them by the UN to take measures to guarantee the safety of human rights defenders;
- expressing concern that the government has taken no effective action against paramilitary groups in the Barrancabermeja area, despite their own commitments and UN recommendations to combat and dismantle these groups;
- calling for a full and impartial investigation into links between the security forces and paramilitary groups operating in the department of Santander, urging that the results are made public, and that those responsible for supporting and participating in such groups are brought to justice.
Send appeals to:
Señor Presidente Andrés Pastrana
Presidente de la Republica
Palacio de Narino
Carrera 8, No. 7-26
Santafe de Bogota, Colombia
Fax: + 57 1 566 20 71
E-mail: apastra@presidencia.gov.co
Send Copies to:
- Minister John Manley, Minister of Foreign Affairs
Fax: 613-996-3443,
E-mail: ManleJ@parl.gc.ca - Guillermo Rishchynski, Canadian Ambassador to Colombia
Fax: 011-571-657-9915,
E-mail: guill.rishchynski@dfait-maeci.gc.ca - Fanny Kertzman Yankelevitch, Colombian Ambassador in Canada
Fax: 613-230- 4416
E-mail: embajado@embajadacolombia.ca - Organización Femenina Popular, Grassroots women's organization
and KAIROS partner
E-mail: E-mail OFP
Thank you once again for responding rapidly!
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