More than 2000 signatures have been sent to Colombian President Manuel Santos as part of an appeal requesting protection of a rally organized by Colombia’s National Movement of Victims of State Crimes (MOVICE). The campaign was led by PBI partner Latin America Working Group. PBI USA requested supporters from across the US to send appeals to the president and appreciates the large number of responses. See letter and signatures at:
PBI would like to congratulate the work done by Mexican human rights defenders and activists that fought and campaigned over decades to make this momentous decision possible.
PBI again expresses its profound concern for the threats against and monitoring of members of the Inter-Church Justice and Peace Commission (CIJP). PBI accompanies the CIJP in the region of Urabá (in the Cacarica, Curbaradó and Jiguamiandó river basins), in Bogotá, and periodically in other areas of the country, since 1998.
The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders (HRDs), Margaret Sekaggya, released <media 7291>the yearly report on HRDs</media>. She focuses on women HRDs. PBI played a large role in producing the report and is a member of the WHRD International Coalition that produced it.
Abel Barrera, director of the Tlachinollan Human Rights Centre in Guerrero, Mexico, received the RFK Human Rights Award on 19 November 2010 in Washington DC.
(from rfkcenter.org)
Dear Friend of Peace Brigades International:
In 1992 Jennifer Harbury, an American, began the search for her Guatemalan husband, Everardo Bámaca, an indigenous leader of the guerilla resistance, who was captured, tortured and murdered at the hands of members of the Guatemalan military on the CIA payroll. After incredible persistence, three hunger strikes, and a decision by the Inter-American Court, Jennifer is now helping push the emblematic Bámaca case forward in Guatemala.