25th anniversary of the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó

“Let us all support each other, rescuing the values of humanity;

Let us all go forward, with affection and much love, with your and our loved ones, and all humanity;

All peasants farmers, let’s strengthen the peace community of peace, the peoples’ rights and freedom;”

On the 23rd of March 2022 in the Peace Community of San Joséde Apartadó, Peace Community members, former and current international, national accompaniers and friends who have been arriving at the main settlement of the Peace Community are woken up by the Peace Community’s hymn.

After the multifaceted “community” receives food at the Peace Community’s restaurant, members of five different embassies join the community. Without bodyguards, no arms nearby, accompanied by the Peace Community, international accompaniment groups, and guests, abiding to one of the Peace Community’s non-violent principles. No to armed protection, yes to community as protection.

Together, the group marches towards la Roncona, a piece of land the Peace Community has been working on since the beginnings. “For us, this is not just a piece of land, it has provided us with food, shelter, when we had to leave our land. It means live to us”, Peace Community members remember. The embassies and accompaniers plant trees, plant life at the Roncona.

The next stop is at the community’s cacao storage, where the declaration from 1997 is read. Community work and zero tolerance to human rights violations, resistance to impunity, have been two crucial principles of the Peace Community, which contributed to autonomy and international protection measures.

At the final stop under the palm roof of the Peace Community’s meeting place, experiences are shared, difficulties about surviving amidst continuing violence on a personal and a communal level. The Peace Community counts more than 300 members being assassinated and countless human rights violations have been reported. 25 years after its declaration, the Peace Community continues its nonviolent struggle, and is a vivid example that alternatives to violence are possible.

Michaela Sollinger

FOR Austria y FOR Peace Presence

Proyecto Colombia

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INSIGHTS

The International Fellowship of Reconciliation collaborates with the Peace Community and FOR Peace Presence to advocate for their rights and support their nonviolent resistance.

The joint collaboration has produced as well a written statement which has been submitted by IFOR to the 49th session of the UN Human Rights Council.

This document, "Colombia: New Threats Against The Peace Community Of San Jose De Apartado On Its 25th Anniversary", has been received by the Secretary-General and has been circulated in accordance with Economic and Social Council resolution 1996/31. It has been registered officially on the UN website as A/HRC/49/NGO/239 and is available here.

Read here the dedicated oral statement that IFOR delivered at the UN Human Rights Council on the occasion of the Peace Community anniversary.

WEBINAR #2 “THE PEACE COMMUNITY OF SAN JOSE DE APARTADO: 25 YEARS OF RESISTANCE TO VIOLENCE”

The International Fellowship of Reconciliation is pleased to invite you to

WEBINAR #2 of the ANNIVERSARY WEBINAR SERIES

Click here to download flyer

“THE PEACE COMMUNITY OF SAN JOSE DE APARTADO: 25 YEARS OF RESISTANCE TO VIOLENCE”

March 16th 2022 at 4pm CET (UTC+1) on Zoom

*This webinar is organized on the occasion of the 49th session of the UN Human Rights Council.

This webinar #2 will focus on the nonviolent experience of the Colombian Peace Community.

The webinar will address the local context, the principles and organization of the peace community and the constant threats of their living because of their choosing to refuse violence and will explore more on human rights issues in the Colombia context.
Participants will have the opportunity to learn more about nonviolent resistance and will have the opportunity to hear first hand testimonies from the community's members and additionally a contribution from the perspective of international institutions such as the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Bogotà.

Our main speakers will be:

• Gildardo Tuberquia and others, Peace Community of San José de Apartadó

• Andrea Garzón, Colombian Commission of Jurists

• Carlos De La Torre, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Colombia
  

Throughout the online meeting, participants will have the possibility to ask questions to the speakers.

Register at bit.ly/FORPP20y and participate!
After you registered, you will receive by email the link to connect on Zoom on the 16th.

The webinar will be in English and Spanish.

More info on the ANNIVERSARY WEBINAR SERIES, organized by International Fellowship of Reconciliation - IFOR together with FOR Peace Presence and FOR Austria - Versöhnungsbund, are available at https://www.ifor.org/.../anniversary-webinar-series-on....

Read more about webinar #1
You are welcome to share on social media here!!

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El Movimiento Internacional de Reconciliación se complace en invitarle al

WEBINAR #2 de la SERIE DE WEBINARIOS DEL ANIVERSARIO

Descarga el flyer aquí

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"LA COMUNIDAD DE PAZ DE SAN JOSÉ DE APARTADO: 25 AÑOS DE

RESISTENCIA A LA VIOLENCIA"

16 de marzo de 2022 a las 16 horas CET (UTC+1) en Zoom
*Este webinar se organiza con motivo de la 49ª sesión del Consejo de Derechos Humanos de la ONU.

Este webinar #2 se centrará en la experiencia noviolenta de la Comunidad de Paz de Colombia.

El webinar abordará el contexto local, los principios y la organización de la comunidad de paz y las constantes amenazas de su vida debido a su voluntad de rechazar la violencia y explorará más sobre las cuestiones de derechos humanos en el contexto de Colombia.
Los participantes tendrán la oportunidad de aprender más sobre la resistencia no violenta y tendrán la oportunidad de escuchar testimonios de primera mano de los miembros de la comunidad y además una contribución desde la perspectiva de instituciones internacionales como la Oficina del Alto Comisionado de las Naciones Unidas para los Derechos Humanos en Bogotá.

Nuestros principales ponentes serán:

• Gildardo Tuberquia y otros, Comunidad de Paz de San José de Apartadó

• Andrea Garzón, Comisión Colombiana de Juristas

• Carlos De La Torre, Oficina del Alto Comisionado de las Naciones Unidas para los Derechos Humanos Colombia
  
  
  A lo largo del encuentro online, los participantes tendrán la posibilidad de hacer preguntas a los ponentes.

¡Regístrate en bit.ly/FORPP20y participa!
Después de registrarse, recibirá por correo electrónico el enlace para conectarse en Zoom el día 16.
El webinar será en inglés y español.

Más información sobre la SERIE DE WEBINARIOS DEL ANIVERSARIO, organizada por International Fellowship of Reconciliation - IFOR junto con FOR Peace Presence y FOR Austria - Versöhnungsbund, está disponible en https://www.ifor.org/.../anniversary-webinar-series-on....

Más información sobre el seminario web nº 1

Le invitamos a compartirlo en las redes sociales aquí

IFOR stands with human rights defenders and addresses the case of Buenaventura in Colombia, at the 46th Human Rights Council

El 15 de marzo de 2021 el Movimiento Internacional de Reconciliación - International Fellowship of Reconciliation - IFOR ha abordado la situación en Colombia y ha pedido a los Estados miembros del Consejo de Derechos Humanos de la ONU y a la Oficina del Alto Comisionado de las Naciones Unidas para los Derechos Humanos que presten atención a las violaciones en Buenaventura.
La declaración ha sido pronunciada en el plenario de la 46ª sesión del CDH por María Eugenia Mosquera Riascos, una defensora de los derechos humanos colombiana que ha recibido recientemente amenazas por su trabajo; María Eugenia colabora con Presencia de Paz Peace Presence y es miembro de Conpaz.
Puedes ver la declaracion grabada aqui.

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On March 15th International Fellowship of Reconciliation - IFOR addressed the situation in Colombia and called on the member States of the UN Human Rights Council and on the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights "to give attention to the violations in Buenaventura (Colombia), an area where there are many foreign economic interests and to urge the national government to implement the peace agreement, to dismantle the surviving structures of paramilitarism, to fulfil the Acuerdo del Paro Cívico de Buenaventura and to prioritise social investment and not militarisation."
The statement has been delivered in the plenary of the 46th session of the Human Rights Council, by María Eugenia Mosquera Riascos, a Colombian human rights defender who has recently received threats for her work; María Eugenia collaborates with Peace Presence and is a member of Conpaz.

Human Rights Council, 46th session
Geneva, 15 March 2021
Item 4: Human rights situations that require the Council's attention
Oral statement delivered by the International Fellowship of Reconciliation.

Madam President,

The Final Peace Agreement was an important step towards overcoming the social and armed conflict. However, the government's unwillingness to implement it has made the human rights situation increasingly deplorable.
According to the report presented by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, "In 2020, 76 massacres were documented, involving the death of 292 people, and 248 peace signatories have been killed". 1
My name is María Eugenia Mosquera Riascos, family member of a victim, human rights defender and member of the Association of Victims Communities Building Peace in Colombia 2.
In this opportunity we present a situation that requires the Council's attention, the case of Buenaventura, Valle del Cauca, where human rights violations, threats, assassinations, forced disappearances, extortion, displacement, dismemberment, confinement, recruitment, sexual violence and expropriation of collective territories are on the rise. Terror is imposed by paramilitary-type structures that operate despite heavy militarisation.
In this context, in January I received threats 3, which are directly related to my work of accompaniment and defence of human rights in this part of the country.
We call on the Member States and the office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to pay attention to these situations of violations in Buenaventura, an area where there are many foreign economic interests; to exhort the national government to implement the Peace Agreement, to dismantle the remaining paramilitary structures; to comply with the Acuerdo del Paro Cívico de Buenaventura 4, to prioritise social investment and not militarisation.

Thank you.

 [Translated from the original in Spanish]

1. https://www.hchr.org.co/documentoseinformes/informes/altocomisionado/HRC46-Informe-anual- 2020_traduccion-no-oficial.pdf

2. CONPAZCOL https://comunidadesconpaz.wordpress.com/

3. FOR Peace Presence y otras organizaciones escribieron una carta pública sobre estas amenazas

4. https://www.mininterior.gov.co/content/gobierno-logra-acuerdos-para-levantar-el-paro-civico-en-buenaventura

• You can download the English version of the statement here

• You can download the original statement in Spanish here

• You can watch the recording of this General Debate of the session of the Human Rights Council here (IFOR's statement is at 02:35:59)

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IFOR collaborates with both organizations for the promotion and protection of human rights and the implementation of peace.

CONPAZ - Comunidades Construyendo Paz en Colombia is a network of 140 victims’ organizations, present in 14 departments where the armed conflict still continues. Apart from its challenging work to strengthen community processes CONPAZ has presented decisive contributions to the peace negotiations in Havana, and is worried about its security situation.

In the framework of the peace negotiations CONPAZ proposed an alternative model of transitional justice, restorative justice, focused on reconciliation and investigation of the truth.

The Fellowship of Reconciliation Peace Presence (FORPP) is a non governmental organization dedicated to providing international accompaniment to communities and individuals at risk in Colombia who are working to promote human rights, peace and justice.

FOR Peace Presence provides physical safety, political visibility and solidarity by accompanying communities and organizations that embrace active nonviolence to defend life, land and dignity. FORPP started as a program of IFOR's U.S.A. branch and then, in 2014, FOR Peace Presence constituted itself as an independent organization.