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31-Oct-2004

Leading human rights advocate grabs attention on UK tour.

by: Caleb Harris

South America: Such words have meant that the high-profile human rights campaigner is under a permanent death threat. He has dedicated 25 years of constant efforts to draw world attention to human rights abuses in Colombia. He is coming to the United Kingdom to talk about the continued deplorable human rights situation in Colombia, a country in the midst of a nasty civil war.

His visit will be from the 12th to the 20th of November during which he will speak at meetings in Bristol, London, Brighton, Oxford, Crewe, Derby, Sheffield and Liverpool. The highlights of the trip will be two public meetings on the 16th on the theme of ‘Human Rights and Impunity in Colombia.’ The first of which will be held at the Centre for the Study of Human Rights at the London School of Economics, and the second will be at a public meeting in the House of Commons, hosted by the All Party Parliamentary Group on Human Rights, and chaired by Jeremy Corbyn, MP.

Recently awarded the III Juan Maria Bandres Peace Prize by the Spanish Commission for Refugee Aid (CEAR), his aforementioned comments were made during his time as General Secretary of the Colombian Inter-church Commission for Justice and Peace (Justicia y Paz), from 1988 to 1998, when he regularly appeared as the spokesperson for victims of human rights violations in cases brought before Colombian courts.

He has previously worked with such organizations as CINEP (Centre for Investigation and Popular Education) and ASFADDES (Association of Relatives of Disappeared Detainees) as well as helping compile the Proyecto Nunca Más, a database of human rights violations, which continues to this day despite permanent death threats. His constant criticism of the current and previous governments in relation to the human rights situation have made him into a reference point for many sectors of Colombian society in the debates on impunity and the plans to amnesty the paramilitary leaders for their crimes.

For more information on Fr. Giraldo’s publications and details on the meetings outside of London, please contact the Colombian Solidarity Campaign at colombia_sc@hotmail.com or 07743 743041, because some of them require advance registration or booking.

Source: Colombia Solidarity Campaign