Yessika Hoyos, Lina Peláez, German Romero, Franklin Castañeda.
We will be watching two webinars on Monday, January 24, the Day of the Endangered Lawyer.
The webinar that day with Lina Peláez (Nomadesc), German Romero (dhColombia) and Franklin Castañeda (CSPP) starts at 11 am EST/COT (5 pm CET). To register, please click here.
And the webinar with Yessika Hoyos (CCAJAR) will start at 5 pm EST/COT. To register, please click here.
The Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project accompanies the Association for Social Research and Action (Nomadesc), Associated Network of Human Rights Defenders (dhColombia), the Committee in Solidarity with Political Prisoners (CSPP) and the José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers’ Collective (CCAJAR).
In this article, Heather Neun and Catherine Morris of Lawyers Rights Watch Canada (LRWC) write: “Colombia has long been one of the most dangerous places in the world for human rights advocates, but the danger intensified in 2020 and 2021 with a surge of massacres and assassinations of human rights defenders and community leaders.”
Neun and Morris note: “More than 700 lawyers were among those killed in Colombia between 1991 and 2013. Between 2017 and 2019 at least three lawyers were killed, along with several attempted assassinations.”
“Added to the attempted and actual murders are numerous death threats. Between 2017 and 2021, at least eight individual lawyers received death threats.”
What can Canadians do?
Neun and Morris further note: “Colombian human rights lawyers and defenders are in need of solidarity from governments and civil society, including lawyers, in other parts of the world. Canadian lawyers can assist by sparking increased awareness of the situations of lawyers in danger and by becoming engaged in advocacy for their protection.”
“Canadians can [also] encourage the government and Canada’s diplomatic missions in Colombia (and elsewhere) to take concrete actions to apply the [Voices at Risk] Guidelines in consistent and creative ways, contributing to the safety of defenders by demonstrating that ‘the world is indeed watching’.”
To read the full article by Neun and Morris, please see Escalating Threats to Colombian Human Rights Advocates: The Day of the Endangered Lawyer, 24 January 2022.
REGISTER: The Lawyers Rights Watch Canada, Law Society of Ontario and Human Rights Watch webinar with Yessika Hoyos (CCAJAR) at 5 pm EST.
REGISTER: The International Observatory for Lawyers (OIAD) webinar with Lina Peláez (Nomadesc), German Romero (dhColombia) and Franklin Castañeda (CSPP) at 11 am EST.
