Targeted for defending human rights
Lawyers in Colombia seek int’l solidarity
By
Berta Joubert-Ceci
Published Aug 28, 2008 10:49 PM
Colombia is the most dangerous country in the world for labor leaders. However,
very little is known about the judicial system and the lawyers who defend the
victims of human rights abuses. Once a lawyer takes a case of violation by
paramilitaries or by the state, he or she becomes a target for threats and even
assassination.
This not only puts in peril the lives of lawyers and their families but is a de
facto denial of access to legal representation for victims, at a time when
massacres by paramilitaries with state support are being uncovered but remain
in complete impunity.
New laws and reforms are being proposed by President Álvaro Uribe with the
full support and encouragement of the U.S. government. This transformation of
the Colombian judicial system will make it even easier to condemn social and
human rights activists who oppose the genocidal policies of Plan Colombia and
the paramilitary Colombian state.
The Colombian Association of Lawyers Defending Human Rights has organized a
conference called the Caravan because the delegation will visit and meet people
not only in Bogotá but also in regional centers.
The International Action Center sent the following message of solidarity to the
conference:
Message to the International Caravan of Jurists
From the United States we send greetings to the organizers and
participants of the International Caravan of Jurists that takes place on Aug.
25 through 29. Unfortunately, we are unable to be present in this very
important undertaking, which is so crucial at this time to expose the dangerous
situation that Colombian lawyers face, particularly those committed to the
exercise of defending human and labor rights in your country.
However, once the information gathered by the Caravan is available, we
will make sure that it gets disseminated as widely as possible in the
U.S.
We observe in horror, from written and audiovisual reports, how human
rights are being abused under the guise of a policy called “Democratic
Security,” which preserves the rights of the perpetrators more than those
of the victims. How laws have been enacted, like the one euphemistically called
Justice and Peace, which has brought no justice and no peace for the majority
of the Colombian people, but rather impunity for the deadly paramilitaries
responsible for countless massacres.
How, according to the testimony of lawyer Jorge Enrique Gómez, former
ombudsman (defensor del pueblo) in Magdalena Medio, many riverbeds in Colombia
are covered with the bodies of those who to this day are part of the millions
“disappeared,” victims of paramilitary and state terror.
Disappearances, displacements, false positives, selective assassinations,
illegal arrests, and so many more injustices and violations have not been
investigated, nor the perpetrator punished. This is actually a denial of
justice.
We point the finger not only at the administration of Colombian President
Álvaro Uribe Vélez—who, in violation of the Basic Principles of
the Function of a Lawyer, on numerous occasions has publicly accused human
rights advocates of serving the cause of terrorism—but at the government
of the U.S., which for decades, under Plan Colombia, has waged a war against
the people of Colombia with the excuse of waging a war against drugs.
We again salute, above all, the organizers of this Caravan, who, with
great risk to their and their families’ lives, have taken on this task on
behalf of the peoples of Colombia.
In solidarity,
Ramsey Clark
Hon. Claudia H. Morcom, retired Wayne Cnty. Circuit Crt. Judge, member
IADL, Detroit, Mich.
Vanessa Ramos, Pres., American Jurists Assoc. (Asociación Americana
de Juristas)
Heidi Boghosian, Ex. Dir., Nat'l Lawyers Guild
Jitendra Charma, Pres, Int'l Assoc. of Democratic Lawyers (IADL)
Jeanne Mirer, Secretary General, IADL
Julie Fry, Alternate Vice President of the Association of Legal Aid
Attorneys, UAW Local 2325
Jerome D. Goldberg, Esq., Detroit, Mich.
Joaquina Rodriguez, Texas attorney
American Association of Jurists (Asociación Americana de
Juristas)
Int'l Association of Democratic Lawyers
Articles copyright 1995-2012 Workers World.
Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email:
[email protected]
Subscribe
[email protected]
Support independent news
DONATE