2012

“On horseback, on motorcycles, in canoes, in jeeps, on unpaved roads, over mountains and through jungles, we arrived to listen to the voices of women.”

This account of a powerful Colombian women’s movement is brought to us by Winifred Tate, a LAWGEF Board Member and Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Colby College. Ms. Tate translated and edited the following interview with Nancy Sanchez of the Colombian human rights group Asociación MINGA about the Putumayo Women’s Alliance, a network of women’s organizations and activists working together for peace and justice in the middle of a conflict zone. This is the first of two posts about the Putumayo Women’s Alliance.

By most accounts, Mexico has become an increasingly dangerous place to stand up for human rights over the past several years. According to the Mexican nongovernmental organization CENCOS, at least 24 human rights defenders and journalists were murdered in 2011 alone. The Mexican government has not adequately responded to threats and attacks against defenders, leaving 99% of all aggressions against them in impunity. Until Mexico’s judicial and law-enforcement institutions are fully able to uphold the rule of law, a special mechanism is needed to protect human rights defenders so they may continue their important work without fear. The Mexican government is in the process of developing such a protection mechanism, but has failed to fully include the participation of civil society--the very people these measures are being designed to protect.

Several members of the U.S. Congress concerned with the high levels of danger facing human rights defenders in Mexico have raised their voice. Together, they sent a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urging her make a priority in her dialogue with Mexico the importance of civil society participation in the development of a protection mechanism for human rights defenders.

To read the letter, click here.