by Lisa Haugaard and Vanessa Kritzeron November 10, 2009
We're hitting the ground running with Human Rights NOW and we need you to join us in a taking an urgent action today.
Our mission?Convince as many congressional representatives as possible before December 7th
to sign on to a letter calling for real change in U.S. policy towards
Colombia, so that it can be sent out ASAP to Secretary of State
Clinton.
As a newcomer to the LAWG team, and inside the beltway advocacy, I have
been surprised over the last few months to learn what it actually takes
to achieve the change we want. Before I started, I assumed that if we
could simply bring the facts about real people who are suffering as a
result of U.S. policies in countries like Mexico and Colombia, we could
make it happen. But it turns out that there's so much more that goes on
in DC every day than I could have anticipated.
by Adam Isacson, Center for International Policyon October 21, 2009
Writing a few days ago in El Espectador, columnist Felipe Zuleta
reported that mothers of young men killed by the Colombian military
have begun receiving anonymous threats.
The mothers live in the poor Bogotá suburb of Soacha, where in 2008
elements of the Colombian Army abducted young men, killing them and
later presenting their bodies as those of illegal armed group members
killed in combat. When news of the Soacha killings broke in September
2008, the scandal forced the firing of 27 Army personnel. Murder trials
have been proceeding very slowly, with an increasing likelihood that
some of those responsible may not be punished.
Hear LAWG's director talk on Chicago Public Radio's Worldview program about the "two Colombias": The one in which the war is winding down and all is going well; and the other one, in which hundreds of thousands of people are still fleeing their homes from violence, the army as well as guerrillas and paramilitaries are killing civilians, and the government is illegally wiretapping the institutions that are the basic building blocks of democracy.
Click here to listen to it on the Chicago Public Radio website.
by Lisa Haugaard, Vanessa Kritzer, and Jenny Johnsonon October 09, 2009
They don't get it... yet.
Although we now have new leadership in Washington, they still don't
understand what they need to do to stand up for human rights. They
think that by saying more about the importance of human rights and
democracy than the Bush Administration did, they are making progress.
But we know that until they actually change U.S. policies to support
victims of violence in places like Mexico and Colombia, they will
continue to be a part of the problem, not the solution.
Now, if we can get them to hear what we hear from people in Mexico and
Colombia and know what we know, they might change their tune.
So, this month we are launching a "Human Rights NOW" campaign, which will use innovative tactics to get them to make human rights come first in U.S. policy.
Action Center
As a newcomer to the LAWG team, and inside the beltway advocacy, I have
been surprised over the last few months to learn what it actually takes
to achieve the change we want. Before I started, I assumed that if we
could simply bring the facts about real people who are suffering as a
result of U.S. policies in countries like Mexico and Colombia, we could
make it happen. But it turns out that there's so much more that goes on
in DC every day than I could have anticipated.
