Colombia Protests Killings
Demonstrations were taking place in Bogotá and other Colombian cities on Friday, focussed on the on-going problem of unlawful killings by the security forces.
Over recent years, Colombian and international human rights organizations have sought to bring this problem to national and international attention and to demand action by the authorities.
At least 330 civilians were reported to have been victims of unlawful killings by members of the security forces in 2007. The victims, mostly peasant farmers, were often presented by the military as “guerrillas killed in combat”.
Many of the killings were referred to the military justice system, which usually closed such cases without any serious attempt to hold those responsible accountable.
The demonstrations are organized by the human rights coalition National Movement of Victims of State Crimes (Movimiento Nacional de Víctimas de Crímenes de Estado, MOVICE).
As a result of their work in exposing unlawful killings and the impunity that surrounds these cases, members of Colombian human rights organizations have received death threats and have been publicly criticized by government officials, who suggest their work is part of a guerrilla strategy to discredit the security forces.
A number of Colombian trade unionists and human rights defenders were killed or threatened just before or soon after last year’s 6 March mass demonstrations, also organized by MOVICE. Numerous Colombian human rights organizations also received email threats at the time, reportedly from paramilitary groups.
Colombian President Álvaro Uribe is being urged to make a strong public statement in support of the important and legitimate work of human rights defenders.
“Failing to do so risks giving a green light to those who wish to attack them,” said Marcelo Pollack, from Amnesty International’s Americas Programme.
“The threats and killings that tragically marred last year’s marches must not be repeated. The legitimate right of everyone to peaceful protest must be guaranteed by the Colombian authorities,” said Marcelo Pollack.
Amnesty International has called on the Colombian authorities to guarantee the security of the organizers and the participants in this year’s 6 March demonstrations. The organization has also called on the Colombian authorities to impartially and effectively investigate last year’s killings and threats, as well as all human rights abuses committed against human rights defenders, trade unionists and other activists, and to bring all those responsible to justice…
Related Posts - Why China is the REAL master of the universe By ANTHONY BROWNE - Cecil Rhodes, the businessman-imperialist of Africa, the creator of Rhodesia, suffered no flicker of doubt about who...
- Bay Organics Inc. - As true to tastes as Mother Nature intended! cheforganics.com Lynn and David Freeman have been farming in Meaford Ontario, since 1986. In 1998 The Freeman’s started growing garlic, which they processed into a variety of Gourmet food seasoning...
- World Water Forum March 22 was first deemed World Water Day in 1993 by the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) as an international day of observance and action to draw...
- North Korea launches rocket, sparks international criticism North Korea followed through Sunday on its publicly-stated intention to launch to a long-range rocket, defying a series of warnings from the international community and setting off a firestorm of...
- Clinton: Chinese human rights can't interfere with other crises U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton broached the issue of human rights with Chinese leaders on Saturday, but emphasized that the global financial slump and other international crises...
- Gates Foundation Invests In Monsanto Farmers and civil society organizations around the world are outraged by the recent discovery of further connections between the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and agribusiness titan Monsanto. Last week,...
Related Websites - Ozone-Zapping Pesticide OK in U.S. What the hell is wrong with these people? Doesn't anyone care what is sprayed all over their food? Jeez... "The Bush administration on Friday won international approval for U.S. farmers to use thousands of tons of a potent ozone-destroying pesticide without having to dip substantially into large stockpiles that were......
- Home Network Security [/caption] Home Computer security 1. What is computer security? Computer security is the process of preventing and detecting unauthorized use of your computer. Prevention measures help you to stop unauthorized users (also known as "intruders") from accessing any part of your computer system. Detection helps you to determine whether or......
- I'm a Believer Re-Write (Human Rights) By DonJuan Writer I thought rights were just the stuff of fairy tails, Meant for war torn souls but not for me, I was such a cynic, That's the way it seems, Violations haunted all my dreams But the human race, Can be a believer, It has a place, I've no doubt in......
- Kona Kampachi -- Sustainably Farmed Yellow Tail from Kona Blue [pics] Have you ever hear of the Kona Kampachi? Well I think you will be hearing a lot more about it soon... The Kona Kampachi is a sashimi grade Hawaiian species of yellowtail (amberjack family and related to hamachi) with no detectable mercury or PCBs... AND IT IS SUSTAINABLE FARMED by Kona Blue.......
- Top-secret America: A hidden world, growing beyond control [/caption] top-secret america: part 1 of a 3-part series from the Washington Post By Dana Priest and William Arkin The top-secret world the government created in response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, has become so large, so unwieldy and so secretive that no one knows how......
- Thoughts On Google And China Google's decision to second-guess its relationship with China has raised some interesting questions recently. Namely, whether Google's decision sprang from their moral opposition to censorship, or simply from a decreased financial interest in a country with a much more popular search engine, known as Baidu. So far, the controversy......
Short URL: http://www.internationalnetworknews.com/?p=1993
Posted by John Malloy
on Mar 15 2009. Filed under International.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0.
You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
