Stand by Colombia's Victims of Violence

There have been some positive signals on human rights in just the first three weeks of the Obama Administration. But since U.S. policy towards Colombia and Latin America is not a priority for this administration, we have to make sure that the United States is indeed standing up for human rights by putting our energy into educating and cajoling our representatives to support our values.

When we talk about Colombia, we often hear two reactions. "It's so complicated!" Or, "Why should I care. There are no good guys to support there." Well, as to the first, yes, it’s complicated. Even more than you know. But as to the second, there are few places on earth with more heroes and heroines than Colombia. 

As President Bush in the waning days of his administration bestows the Presidential Medal of Freedom upon Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, we'd like to nominate as LAWG Heroes of the Year 2008 the brave and tireless Colombian human rights activists who are taking risks to end the Colombian army's killings of civilians.

We're saddened to report that the spouse of an indigenous activist working in Cauca was killed when Colombian soldiers fired shots into his vehicle this past Tuesday. The killing of Edwin Legarda shows that despite recent firings of top military officials, the Colombian government is not doing enough to prevent new civilian killings by the army.

To: Foreign Policy Aides
From: Lisa Haugaard

Although it was heartening to learn the news of the freeing of FARC kidnap victims in July, many other indicators of human rights in Colombia remain extremely troubling. The rate of internal displacement in Colombia accelerated in 2007 compared to the previous year, and remains at record-breaking levels in 2008, indicating that the war continues to rage in the countryside, brutally affecting the civilian population. Threats and attacks against human rights defenders continue, with assassinations of trade unionists increasing in 2008. Killings of civilians by the army escalated in 2007 and erupted into a major scandal in the last two months, forcing the government in October 2008 to announce long overdue dismissals of officers and resulting in the resignation of the head of the army. Paramilitary forces, despite the demobilization, exercise control in many parts of the country and threaten and abuse communities. Guerrillas are hard hit by army offensives but still exert control over territory, plant landmines, kidnap, and kill.

The Latin American Working Group Education Fund, Washington Office on Latin America, Center for International Policy, and U.S. Office on Colombia have just released Compass for Colombia Policy, which makes a strong case for a bold, new U.S. approach in Colombia aimed at ending impunity and strengthening respect for human rights.

With a human rights compass guiding them, President Obama and the new Congress must make clear that the United States will:

• Support and protect human rights defenders and victims. The U.S. must stand by and empower the truly courageous individuals—human rights advocates, victims, judges, prosecutors, trade leaders, and countless others—who are the driving forces for a more just and peaceful Colombia.
• Demand an end to the military’s human rights violations. Despite assurances that the Colombian army’s human rights record would improve with U.S. training, the army has carried out hundreds of extrajudicial killings of unarmed civilians. The U.S. must ensure that these abuses are investigated and ended.
• Actively support overtures for peace. The United States cannot continue endlessly bankrolling war. The immense suffering of the civilian population demands that the United States takes risks to achieve peace. Careful, renewed efforts could yield real progress.
• Invest in institutions and fight impunity. In Colombia, human rights violators are still rarely brought to justice for their crimes. The U.S. must invest in–and demand accountability from–the institutions charged with investigating human rights abuses and politicians’ ties to illegal armed groups.
• Get serious—and smart—about drug policy. The U.S. must stop bankrolling the inhumane and ineffective aerial spraying program, and instead invest strategically in alternative development projects for small farmers in rural Colombia and drug treatment programs here at home.

With a new administration and Congress, we will have an extraordinary opportunity to change U.S. policy in Colombia to reflect our values of peace, justice, and human rights—but to achieve that change we need you to take action.

Here’s what you can do to make real change a reality:

1. Send a copy of the Compass to your representative and senators—especially important if they’ve just been elected.
2. Meet with your member of Congress in their district office and encourage them to support a new direction in U.S. policy towards Colombia.
3. Sign our petition to President-elect Obama here.

Now let’s get to work!

On October 12th, more than 12,000 indigenous Colombians gathered to peacefully protest the U.S.-Colombia free trade agreement and the Colombian government's consistent failure to return land obtained by violence to indigenous communities.

Read the report (PDF).

A Compass for Colombia Policy makes a detailed, persuasive case for a new U.S. strategy that would achieve our current policy goals while ending impunity and strengthening respect for human rights.

Read our publication A Compass for Colombia Policy (PDF)
Lea nuestra publicación Un nuevo rumbo para la política estadounidense hacia Colombia (PDF)

Last week, the Colombian government sent an 80-member delegation to Capitol Hill as part of an intensive, last-ditch effort to secure our Congress' support for the stalled U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA). Today, Colombia's president arrives in Washington, DC to continue this expensive lobbying blitz with the message that all is well with human rights in Colombia.