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E-bulletin May 2018
Dear Supporters,
We hope you are well. If you haven't yet had an opportunity to
visit our new website, please do so. Follow us regularly for news and information
on the peace process, human rights and trade unionism in Colombia.
You can also stay up to date with JFC on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
We also hope you will consider supporting our work in Colombia, which you can do through your trade union
or as an individual. Your contribution will help us to continue
campaigning for human rights, labour rights and peace with social
justice in Colombia.
Here is an update of some recent news from Colombia and JFC.
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JFC Peace Monitor delegation visits Colombia
During 5-10 April 2018, the Justice for Colombia Peace Monitor
staged its inaugural delegation to Colombia to observe the current
state of implementation of the peace process and the broader human
rights situation in the country.
The delegation was formed of British and Irish MPs and
international trade unionists. You can read about the delegates and
the various meetings they held with government officials, the FARC,
the UN, foreign embassies and civil society groups here.
To read the official statement which announces the findings of the
JFC Peace Monitor delegation, click here.
The delegation was the first in an ongoing series of JFC-organised
visits to Colombia to observe and assist the implementation of the
peace agreement.
For more information and to follow the work of the JFC Peace
Monitor, visit the colombiapeacemonitor.org and follow our new Twitter page.
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Jesús Santrich campaign
JFC is extremely concerned about the implications for the
peace process of the arrest and ongoing detention of Jesús
Santrich, a key architect of the peace process and congress
member-elect for the FARC. Jesús also sits on the Implementation
Commission responsible for overseeing the implementation of the
peace agreement.
Jesús was arrested on 9 April, a few hours after meeting with
the JFC Peace Monitor delegation which, in its official statement,
said it felt there was 'an absolute and unreserved commitment to
the peace process' among the FARC.
Since his arrest, Jesús Santrich has been on hunger strike, causing
a severe deterioration in his health and leading to his
hospitalisation on 26 April.
The arrest occurred following an arrest request from a US court for
Jesús Santrich with the aim of extradition on allegations of
conspiracy to traffic drugs. The United Nations, the Colombian
Supreme Court and the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP), the
transitional justice model which was created as a core element of
the peace agreement, have said that his case must be reviewed first
in Colombia by the JEP.
To read JFC's statement on the detention of Jesús Santrich, click here.
You can also read statements by Unite the Union and
the National Education Union,
both of which had representatives on the JFC Peace Monitor delegation
who met with Jesús on the day of his arrest.
Jesús Santrich was also the subject of an Early Day Motion submitted
in the British parliament by a cross-party group of MPs.
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Human Rights
High levels of political violence continue to affect many
Colombians. According to a recent report by Colombian NGO Somos Defensores (We Are Defenders), 46 social leaders and human rights
defenders were murdered in the first three months of 2018. This
continues the sharp escalation in killings since the peace agreement
was signed in November 2016.
The majority of these killings have taken place in regions formerly
under FARC administration, where the subsequent power vacuum has seen
armed groups seek to establish a foothold. Many victims had been
working on the implementation of the peace process, especially around
land reform and voluntary substitution of illicit crops.In a report published in
March 2018, the UN noted that at least
121 activists were murdered in 2017.
Around 50 members of the FARC, as well as some of their close family
members, have been killed since the agreement was signed. This is
despite their demobilisation and attempts to reintegrate into civil
society.
It is imperative for that the Colombian government implement the
necessary security measures to address the ongoing targeting of
social leaders and former combatants by paramilitaries and other
armed groups.
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