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South America Newsletter December 2024

December 9, 2024 by zarganar

This month we bring you news from Peru, Colombia, Argentina, Venezuela, Chile, Brazil, Paraguay and Ecuador.

  • As foreshadowed in our November newsletter, two Peruvian Human Rights Defenders visited the UK from 10-13 November to raise international pressure in the search for justice for those who were killed or seriously injured during the repression of protests in Peru in 2022-2023.
  • Colombia – The Colombian journalist Jineth Bedoya, who was gang raped and tortured by paramilitaries in 2000 and received her latest death threat just days ago, explains why she opposes the government’s ‘total peace’ plan for the reintegration of rapists and violence against female reporters.
  • Argentina – Buenos Aires dedicated a week to celebrating diversity, ending with thousands attending a Pride March on November 2nd.
  • Chile – The trial against former Carabineros lieutenant colonel Claudio Crespo has now begun; its expected to last up to a year.
  • Amnesty International has launched a petition for Brazil to put in place an effective national policy of protection of Human Rights Defenders, Communicators and Environmentalists.
  • Amnesty International has published a new Urgent Action calling on the Venezuelan authorities to stop their attacks in the media and through the judicial system on the non-governmental organisation Provea.

COLOMBIA

Jineth Bedoya, Colombian journalist

The Colombian journalist Jineth Bedoya, who was gang raped and tortured by paramilitaries in 2000 and received her latest death threat just days ago, explains why she opposes the government’s ‘total peace’ plan for the reintegration of rapists and violence against female reporters. “I do not understand how you can sit in front of a rapist and give him guarantees in the framework of a social peace, knowing that it is one of the worst crimes.” Bedoya has just launched her documentary on sexual exploitation in Cartagena, titled It’s Not Time to Remain Silent.

The US NGO WOLA reports that the Afro-Colombian Afrorenacer del Micay Community Council in Cauca is losing its rights over its territories, which will be destroyed by a huge dam it did not agree to. ‘Since March 2020, dissident FARC-EP factions have murdered community leaders and internally displaced residents.’ Once the rightful owners of the land were taken out, farmers and community boards not connected to the Afrorenacer del Micay Community Council took over. While the rightful owners have won a court judgement, it has not been enforced by the Colombian authorities.

Colombia Reports that Ivan Marquez, the leader of the FARC dissident group Segunda Marquetalia (SM), has denounced their lead negotiator and deputy leader of the SM who is in peace talks with the government. The SM continues fighting in the south west of Colombia. ‘In a response, President Gustavo Petro said that the “division in the violent groups is a step ahead for peace.”’

The UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances will visit Colombia from 21 November to 5 December 2024 to strengthen accountability and protections against enforced disappearances. The experts will attend exhumations and other proceedings to search for disappeared people, as conducted by the authorities. In addition, the delegation will visit places of deprivation of liberty, such as prisons and detention centres, to examine how they operate their registration system, which is a critical safeguard to prevent enforced disappearances. It will present its report in March. [Read more…]

Filed Under: newsletter, South America Newsletter

South America Newsletter November 2024

November 4, 2024 by zarganar

This month we bring you news from Peru, Colombia, Argentina, Venezuela, Chile, Brazil, Paraguay and Ecuador.

  • Peru – Amnesty is bringing two Human Rights Defenders to the UK and you may book here to join them at the Human Rights Action Centre on 11 November evening and you can sign a petition.
  • Colombia – Amnesty has issued a new Urgent Action demanding that the authorities investigate the attacks on Fundación Nydia Erika Bautista.
  • Argentina – Joel Paredes is in this year’s Write For Rights campaign, you can sign an online petition
  • Argentina – Amnesty has issued a new report Muted: The impact of digital violence against women journalists.
  • Venezuela – Amnesty welcomes the two-year extension of the UN’s Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela.
  • Chile – On the 5th anniversary of the protests, Amnesty demands reparations for victims of the protests and reform of the Carabineros
  • Brazil – As the trial of the killers of Marielle Franco begins, Amnesty demands that the master minds behind the killings be apprehended.
  • Paraguay – Amnesty has issued an updated Urgent Action aimed at stopping the enactment of a bill that endangers work for human rights in Paraguay.
  • Ecuador – Amnesty issued a briefing setting out its concerns about the decline in human rights protections under the current administration

PERU

Peruvian community activists seeking justice

Two Peruvian Human Rights Defenders will visit the UK from 10-13 November to raise international pressure in the search for justice for those who were killed or seriously injured during the repression of protests in Peru in 2022-2023. Yovana Mendoza Huarancca, Vice-President of the Ayacucho Victims Association, and Mario Iquita Chambi, Representative of the Juliaca Victims Association, will be speak at an event that we are organising at the Human Rights Action Centre on 11 November from 6pm to 8pm.  Space will be limited to a maximum attendance of 40.  You can book here. Their programme includes a meeting at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and an event at Parliament.  You can still sign our petition here.

The UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) has found that the policy of forced sterilisation in Peru, which took place during the 1990s, amounted to sex-based violence and intersectional discrimination, particularly against Indigenous, rural, and economically disadvantaged women.  The decision was a response to a joint complaint filed by five victims who were forcibly sterilised between 1996 and 1997 as part of the State-led birth control policy. [Read more…]

Filed Under: amnesty international, newsletter, South America Newsletter

South America Newsletter October 2024

October 6, 2024 by zarganar

AIUK SOUTH AMERICA TEAM OCTOBER 2024 NEWSLETTER

Dear Friends
This month we bring you news from Colombia, Argentina, Venezuela, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay and Peru. 
Highlights are:

  • Regional: Amnesty has called on seven South American Presidents to strengthen action to reduce the risk of wildfires after recent record fires had a devasting impact on indigenous territories
  • Colombia: We have an Urgent Action calling for those threatening and harassing Jani Silva to be brought to justice
  • Argentina: We have a new Urgent Action urging Congress to insist on the passage of a law to improve pensions for older people.
  • Venezuela: Amnesty has called for the extension of the mandate of the UN’s International Independent Fact-Finding Mission for Venezuela
  • Brazil:  Global Witness reports that 25 land and environmental defenders were killed in Brazil during 2023
  • Chile: President Boric has promised to push for the repeal of a dictatorship-era law that rules out most investigations of crimes against humanity committed under General Pinochet.
  • Peru: Former President Alberto Fujimori, who was convicted of human rights abuses and corruption, has died aged 86.
  • Uruguay: Human Rights Watch report Uruguay’s shortcomings in meeting the support requirements of people with disability

REGIONAL

August and September 2024 saw record fires across South America, with several millions of hectares burning not only in rainforests of the Amazon basin, but also in diverse ecosystems stretching across entire countries.  Amnesty has published an Open Letter addressed to the presidents of Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay and Peru calling for governments to ramp up action to extinguish wildfires, strengthen efforts to abandon fossil fuels, protect territories of Indigenous Peoples and provide guarantees to environmental human rights defenders.

COLOMBIA

Marino Pavi Julicue, indigenous leader, killed 16 December 2023 in Toribio, Cauca

Amnesty has issued a new Urgent Action : On 10 September Jani Silva, a defender of land, territory and the environment in the Colombian Amazon (department of Putumayo), received a phone call threatening to “blow you up, car and all”. Jani and her association ADISPA have protection measures in place, provided by the government’s National Protection Unit (UNP). We call on the Colombian authorities to identify those responsible and to bring them to justice. Please take action. This is the letter we sent at our last meeting.

Global Witness reports that in 2023 Colombia was the most dangerous country in the world for land and environmental defenders ‘with a record 79 defenders killed last year compared to 60 in 2022, and 33 in 2021. With 461 killings from 2012 to 2023, Colombia has the highest number of reported environmental defender killings globally on record.’ [Read more…]

Filed Under: amnesty international, newsletter, South America Newsletter

South America Newsletter September 2024

September 5, 2024 by zarganar

Dear Friends,

This month we bring you news from Colombia, Brazil, Venezuela, Ecuador, Chile, Peru, and Argentina. 

Highlights are:

Colombia: The UN’s Working Group on Business and Human Rights has found that ‘Colombia suffers from long-standing structural problems that have led to serious human rights violations’

Brazil:  Amnesty International has launched a petition to urge the Brazilian Ministry of Human Rights and Citizenship to implement the Program for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders

Venezuela: Mass demonstrations, following the presidential election,  led to hundreds of protesters being arbitrarily detained – there is an Urgent Action

Ecuador: In a new report, and petition, Amnesty International reveals how the Ecuadorian state is failing in its duty to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, allowing the operation of gas flares.

Chile: The trial preparation has at last been held in the case against a former Carabineros officer accused of blinding Gustavo Gatica, Amnesty International Individual at Risk.

Peru: There have been important developments following the publication of Amnesty International’s report, Who Called On The Shots?

Argentina: Amnesty International had sent Congress a guide explaining problems with the Argentine pension system and the need for reform that guarantees retirees a dignified life.

COLOMBIA

Rozanna Delgado Trujillo, LGBTQ+ leader, killed 14.12.2023 in Bogotá.

In a an appeal to support Colombia’s peace process, WOLA, alongside 172 individuals and organizations, calls for immediate action to resume the peace talks between the Colombian Government and the ELN (National Liberation Army) and to extend the bilateral ceasefire that expired on August 3. The implementation of the Ethnic Chapter of the 2016 Peace Accord should be prioritised. This includes humanitarian relief and protection measures for indigenous and black communities. Negotiations ended when the ELN resumed its kidnappings and other illegal activities to fund the armed group.

In another setback to President Petro’s ‘Total Peace Plan’, Colombia Reports  that EMC (Former FARC) commander “Ivan Mordisco” declared war on dissident guerrilla units that decided to negotiate peace with the government without his approval. ‘The declaration of war could have major consequences in southern Colombia where the Amazonas Bloc and the Jorge Suarez Briceño Bloc of dissidents operate.’

A gathering of 4,200 representatives of indigenous communities from the Cauca, where the war between armed groups has intensified, are in Bogotá seeking to meet President Petro. They demand that the government stop the fighting. Although they have yet to meet the President, they have achieved another goal, to obtain an ATEA (Territorial and Economic and Environmental Authority) decree for the Cauca region. This will enable indigenous communities to register their land claims and strengthen their legal position in respect of third parties. [Read more…]

Filed Under: newsletter, South America Newsletter

South America Newsletter August 2024

August 6, 2024 by zarganar

Dear Friends,

This month we bring you news from Colombia, Argentina, Peru, Paraguay, Venezuela, Chile, Ecuador and Brazil.

Highlights are:

  • Colombia and others: Amnesty has a new petition directed at governments to support a Torture-free Trade treaty.
  • Argentina: An Urgent Action demands that charges against 33 people opposed the controversial ‘ley de bases’ be dropped.
  • Argentina: A second Urgent Action demands that charges against Pierina Nochetti for painting graffiti be dropped.
  • Peru: A new report with an Urgent Action identifies the former President’s responsibility for the killings and injuries in last year’s protests.
  • Paraguay: Amnesty has issued an Urgent Action calling on the Chamber of Deputies to reject a bill limiting freedom of assembly..
  • Venezuela: following the controversial re-election of President Maduro, Amnesty is calling on a commitment to human rights and the release of three political prisoners.
  • Chile: Amnesty is calling on the government to decriminalize voluntary abortion in all circumstances.
  • Ecuador: Human Rights Watch have released a new report calling on the Ecuadorian Government to accelerate measures to end sexual violence in schools.
  • Brazil: Amnesty is denouncing the dropping of charges against 3 policemen accused of murder of a child.

COLOMBIA

Carlos Alberto Romero Martínez, legal representative of a small-holders´association, killed 16 December 2023 in Caldas, Antioquia by persons unknown.

Amnesty International has launched a campaign to demand that governments support a Torture-Free Trade Treaty to regulate the trade in policing equipment to ensure it does not end in the hands of abusive police forces. They cite the excessive use of violence using non-lethal weapons by Colombia’s police in response to the National Strike in 2018. Please sign the petition, which for UK residents will be redirected to the British government. Accompanying this demand is the first hand account by Leidy Cadena, the first person to be blinded by police in 2018, who has been forced to leave Colombia.

The Washington based human right advocacy group WOLA condemns the ‘vile attack’ on indigenous Wayuu leader Javier Rojas Uriana 2 July. They demand that the Colombian authorities and the National Protection Unit guarantee the protection of Mr. Rojas Uriana, his family, and the Association of Shipia Wayuu members. ‘They should guarantee that these crimes’ intellectual and material authors are brought to justice. Additionally, these entities should investigate why the regional prosecutor’s office of Cesar and the SIJIN have refused to accept the complaint the victim tried to file.’

Leaders of dissident FARC guerrillas known as the EMC, who were travelling in armoured cars provided by the National Protection Unit, were arrested at a military checkpoint in Cisneros. They were on their way to peace talks. Seven remain in custody. The EMC has been blamed for a series of bombings and shootings around Cali and they threatened to disrupt the COP 16 negotiations which are due to begin in Cali in October. They have since withdrawn this threat and have called for the arrest warrants to be revoked.

Peace Brigade International Colombia’s annual report records the NGO’s invaluable role in protecting communities at risk in Colombia. This includes the presence of 26 field volunteers, some of whom protect Amnesty’s IAR Casefile Peace Community of San José de Apartadó. The report includes the testimony of one field worker in the country. They note that ‘Even though violence and human rights violations decreased slightly in 2023 according to figures from Indepaz, there were still 188 murders of human rights leaders and defenders, 94 massacres with 303 victims and 167,540 victims of forced displacement.’ [Read more…]

Filed Under: newsletter, South America Newsletter

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