Among the most severe attacks against the Inter-Church Justice and Peace Commission (CIJP) in 2016, the following are worthy of note:

Threats and acts of aggression

• 6 February: two men followed human rights defenders Danilo Rueda and Abilio Peña of the Inter-Church Justice and Peace Commission (CIJP) and William Aljure, who is a land claimant from Mapiripán (Meta) and is accompanied by CIJP, as they left the La Picota prison in Bogota, during a humanitarian mission.[1] According to CIJP’s statement, the number plate of the car that followed them showed that it belonged to the Ministry of the Interior.[2]
• 13 June: theft of two laptop computers and three million Colombian pesos (roughly $969 USD) from the Popayan premises of the Inter-Church Justice and Peace Commission (CIJP).The stolen items contained sensitive information about communities’ proposals for peace, a database on human rights violations, crimes against humanity and environmental damage, and a description of initiatives on which they are working. The incident occurred during a presentation of the Peace University’s project in the Naya river basin.[3]

Tracking and surveillance

• 12 January: repeated strange movements at the Danilo Rueda’s (CIJP) place of residence, at the same time as the security equipment at the residence stopped working.[4]
• 22 January: suspicious observation by a man on a motorcycle near Danilo Rueda’s home. When he saw the defender leave his home, the suspicious man made a call on his cell phone and followed the defender and his escort for several blocks.[5]
• 5 February: Danilo Rueda (CIJP) was followed in Bogota by a man on a motorcycle.[6]
• 4 March: two men on a motorcycle followed Jefferson Tunjano Bhorquez, legal assistant with CIJP, in Bogota, they also barred his way on his bicycle.[7]
• 5 March: surveillance by a truck parked near CIJP’s offices in Bogota; persons in the truck took photographs and video footage.[8]
• 7 March: surveillance, in Buenaventura, of Danilo Rueda and Johana Rodriguez (CIJP). A man took photographs of them and when the National Protection Unit (UNP) escorts went to speak to him, the subject escaped.[9]
• 3 May: an unknown person took photographs of relatives of Ruiz Gallo, as well as leaders of the Curbaradó Collective Territory, international observers and human rights defenders from CIJP during the exhumation of the bodies of Manuel and Samir Ruiz in Chigorodo cemetery.[10]
• 31 May: two motorcycles followed human rights defender Edwin Mosquera from CIJP, in Turbo,Antioquia.[11]
• 10 June: human rights defender Danilo Rueda, a member of CIJP’s board of directors, was followed through the streets in Bogota.[12]
• 24 July: Physical surveillance of human rights defender Stefany Amador Rodrigues from the Inter-Church Justice and Peace Commission (CIJP) in Turbo, who was followed by two men on a motorcycle, one of them was visibly armed with a handgun.[13]
• 6 September: Physical surveillance of Danilo Rueda, a member of CIJP, who was followed by a car in which a person video recorded him with a cell phone, as he was leaving his house in Bogotá.[14]

Slander and defamations

• 17 August: Intimidation of a member of the Inter-Church Justice and Peace Commission (CIJP), Enrique Chimonja, by members of the Marine Infantry on board a speed boat at the mouth of the river San Juan (Chocó). Even after he identified himself as a human rights defender and explained that he was on a humanitarian vessel, they searched his baggage, and the soldiers ordered Chimonja and an indigenous member of the group he was accompanying to raise their shirts to check whether they were carrying weapons.[15]

Detentions and prosecutions

• 10 April: National Police detained human rights defender Enrique Chimonja, a member of CIJP’s board of directors, and Eugenia Mosquera of CONPAZ, under suspicion of transporting explosive materials in their UNP-provided vehicle. The incident occurred in Candelaria (Valle del Cauca).When they asked for the protocol of UNP cars to be observed, Chimonja and Mosquera were taken to the police station in El Bolo. One of the policemen made serious, defamatory statements against indigenous leader Feliciano Valencia, who is currently under house arrest and facing legal charges that are widely denounced by human rights organizations as baseless.[16]

Footnotes:

[1] CIJP: Seguimientos y amenaza a reclamante de tierras William Aljure y seguimientos a Danilo Rueda de nuestra Comisión de Justicia y Paz, 6 February 2016
[2] Ibíd.
[3] CIJP: Hurto de información de DDHH y ambiente en sede JyP Popayán, 13 June 2016
[4] CIJP: Rondas sospechosas a casa de defensor de Derechos Humanos de nuestra Comisión Intereclesial de Justicia y Paz, 22 January 2016
[5] CIJP: Rondas sospechosas a casa de defensor de Derechos Humanos de nuestra Comisión Intereclesial de Justicia y Paz, 22 January 2016
[6] CIJP: Seguimientos y amenaza a reclamante de tierras William Aljure y seguimientos a Danilo Rueda de nuestra Comisión de Justicia y Paz, 6 February 2016
[7] CIJP: Seguimientos y extraños registros a sede de Justicia y Paz, 7 March 2016
[8] Ibíd.
[9] Ibíd.
[10] CIJP: Seguimiento durante exhumación de los restos de Manuel y Samir Ruiz, 3 May 2016
[11] CIJP: Seguimiento a defensor de dh de Justicia y Paz, 1 June 2016
[12] CIJP: Seguimiento a defensor de derechos humanos Danilo Rueda, 12 June 2016
[13] Cijp: Hostigamiento a defensores de derechos humanos y deslegitimación a Comisión de Justicia y Paz, 29 July 2016
[14] CIJP: Vigilancia ilegal sobre defensor de DDHH, 6 September2016
[15] CIJP: Abuso de autoridad contra defensor de DDHH, 18 August 2016
[16] CIJP: Retienen a defensores de Derechos Humanos por sospecha, 10 April 2016