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< Introduction
< Press Release
Urgent Action
URGENT ACTION
ACT NOW in support of Colombia's
Never Again Project, and prevent further violence against those
who legitimately denounce state terror
Dear Friends:
On Tuesday, November 28, 2000, two volumes of a report entitled
Colombia: Nunca Mas (Never Again) will be publicly presented in
Bogota, Colombia. These two volumes document some 3,500 cases of
crimes against humanity committed between 1966 and 1998 by state
agents or their allies in the regions of Magdalena Medio, northeast
Antioquia, Meta and Guaviare.
Other volumes of Colombia: Nunca Mas to be released subsequently
will focus on other regions of Colombia, where more than 35,000
crimes against humanity were committed during the same time period.
These reports are based on information collected by 16 prominent
Colombian organizations that form the NUNCA MAS initiative and include:
ASFADDES, Colectivo de Abogados "Jose Alvear Restrepo", Comision
Intercongregacional de Justicia y Paz, Comité de Solidaridad con
los Presos Politicos, Comité Permanente por la Defensa de los Derechos
Humanos, Comision Interfranciscana de Justicia, Paz y Reverencia
con la Creacion, Corporacion Sembrar, CREDHOS, Reiniciar, CODEHSEL,
Corporacion Juridica Libertad, CEBS, Corporacion Humanidad Vigente,
Fundacion Manuel Cepeda, ANUC-UR, ANDAS, Misioneros Claretianos
de Colombia.
Not only does the Colombia Never Again report document abuses,
it identifies specifically who was responsible, what structures
and institutions facilitated the violation of human rights, and
they propose changes to ensure these abuses do not happen again.
These recommendations are part of a larger proposal for constructing
peace in Colombia on the basis of truth, justice, and reparations
for the victims.
Members of the Colombian coalition are fearful that there will
be a heavy cost to pay for revealing the truth through their report,
in a context in which those identified in the report as being responsible
for committing crimes against humanity continue to carry out similar
violations today.
ICCRHLA is extremely worried about the safety of colleagues working
with the 16 organizations named above and urges you to take action
immediately to call for their protection.
ACTION REQUESTED
Please send urgent messages as soon as possible to the Colombian
government, expressing your support for Colombia Never Again
and indicating your concern that people and organizations involved
in this project may be targeted by paramilitary death squads.
Call on the government for immediate and effective measures
to guarantee the safety of people and organizations who are
exercising their legitimate rights within a democracy by publishing
Colombia Never Again. (Please include the names of the organizations
in your message.)
Furthermore, call on President Pastrana to take seriously the
evidence of state involvement in crimes against humanity documented
in the report, and to act on recommendations to dismantle mechanisms
that perpetuate systematic repression and impunity by such necessary
actions as dismantling paramilitary groups, prosecuting those responsible
for human rights abuses and ensuring such cases are tried in civilian
courts, etc.
A similar message should also be sent to the Canadian government,
urging it to show leadership in communicating to its Colombian counterpart
that the international community will not tolerate repression against
the organizations involved in Colombia Never Again. Also call on
the Canadian government to carefully analyze the evidence of state
involvement in systematic repression in Colombia presented in the
Never Again report, and develop appropriate responses within the
framework of Canada's bilateral and multilateral relations with
Colombia.
APPEALS TO:
- Colombian President Andres Pastrana:
Fax 571-287-7939 or 284-2186 or 289-3377 or 337-1351;
e-mail: pastrana@presidencia.gov.co
- Canadian Foreign Minister John Manley:
Fax 613-996-3443 or 995-1534;
e-mail: ManleJ@parl.gc.ca
- Please send copies of your letters to:
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"COLOMBIA NUNCA MÁS"
Memory of Crimes Against Humanity
"Colombia Nunca Más" began in 1996. Its main objective is the preparation
of a database that records information about crimes against humanity
(1966-1998), ranging from torture and extra-judicial executions
to detentions and disappearances. Research has also confirmed that
genocide has been committed.
As a result of work in different regions of the country where teams
of workers have been assembled and information gathered from the
victims and affected organisations, the first estimate suggests
that approximately 38,000 cases of crime have been recorded in the
country, classified by department, region and historical period.
These crimes have received absolute impunity in both penal and disciplinary
terms: except in rare cases, representing fewer than 1%, those who
have committed crimes have not been punished.
During the years of research the members of the project have drawn
up ethical and political criteria which we consider to be a guide
for continuing the fight against impunity, and a method for building
relationships with the victims, their families, the social and political
organisations affected, different insurrectionary movements, the
state and the international community. These criteria are as follows:
- Historical Truth: it is
a right of the people to know what happened to the victims, who
they were, who was responsible and what were their motives.
- Right to justice: everyone
who has committed a crime must be punished, especially if the
Colombian state has sponsored or tolerated it.
- Full compensation: the state
must offer full compensation for the damage caused to individuals
and families, socially and politically, and generally for the
damage to humanity.
- Representation: the victims
have no-one to represent them; we therefore propose that a National
Assembly be established, to address this problem, to decide who
should provide and have right to such representation and the way
in which decisions should be taken.
- The nature of the negotiations:
we consider that the negotiations must be public and without any
limitations, taking place in a city able to guarantee the safety
of all participants, and that decisions should be taken with the
participation of the victims.
- Autonomy and Political Independence:
As social organisations, defenders of human rights, victims and/or
families we consider ourselves as autonomous and politically independent;
we refuse to represent the views of the state or guerrilla groups.
We require mutual respect, the free discussion of ideas and the
recognition of our spokespersons or delegates when necessary.
- Prevention: As a result
of the magnitude of the tragedy, the state must dismantle the
structures responsible for sponsoring, promoting or facilitating
these crimes and take all necessary measures to guarantee that
they will not be repeated.
- Reconciliation: The process
of reconciliation is necessary in order to understand the truth,
to ensure justice is administered to those who have been found
guilty and to repair some of the damage caused. On this basis
it is possible to contemplate an individual pardon since it is
impossible on the political level, that is to say that, it is
impossible to envisage a reconciliation between the victims and
the state, still less between victims and perpetrators of the
crimes.
Until the structures of the state are completely reformed, and
a new constitution is adapted to our real needs, we propose, in
conjunction, the creation of a commission of historical illumination
to judge those who have committed or sponsored these crimes and
to offer full compensation. This must be agreed through the process
of the political resolution of the social conflict or with the victims.
On the 28th November 2000 the project will present an initial report
on the development of the research, which will include crimes against
humanity committed between 1966 and 1998 in 4 regions of the country,
namely Meta, Guaviare, Magdalena Medio and the North East of Antioquia,
all of which have been affected. Other regions are still being prepared
and will be presented at a later date.
NO PARDONS OR FORGETTING, PUNISHMENT OF THE GUILTY.
TRUTH, JUSTICE AND FULL COMPENSATION: NON-NEGOTIABLE RIGHTS
OF THE VICTIMS.
ALIVE THEY TOOK THEM, ALIVE WE WANT THEM, NO FORCED DISAPPEARANCES.
POLITICAL PRISONERS ARE NOT COMMON DELINQUENTS, THEY ARE DEFENDERS
OF THE PEOPLE, WE REQUIRE THEIR FREEDOM.
FOR OUR DEAD NOT A MINUTE'S SILENCE, A WHOLE LIFE OF STRUGGLE,
SO THAT NEVER AGAIN WILL THIS BE REPEATED.
NO MORE FORCED DISPLACEMENT IN COLOMBIA. A RETURN TO DIGNITY
AND JUSTICE.
NUNCA MAS:
Memoria de los Crímenes de Lesa Humanidad en Colombia
Carrera 15 Nº 37-10
Bogotá, Colombia
Telefax: (57 1) 232 82 54
Correo electrónico: comintjp@andinet.com
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