This 4 March was not any old Monday for the Bajo Atrato communities, and in particular for the Nueva Esperanza en Dios (New Hope in God) Humanitarian Zone, located in the Cacarica river basin (Chocó). At the close of their memory festival to commemorate the 22nd anniversary of Operation Genesis and the resulting forced displacement of thousands, for the first time a judicial authority visited their territory. Continue reading Historic JEP Hearing in Cacarica
Tag Archives: Inter-Church Justice and Peace Commission
Between hope and disappointment: a summary of 2018
Two years since the signing of the Peace Agreement between the Colombian government and the FARC guerrilla, the long process has begun towards the agreement’s implementation. Continue reading Between hope and disappointment: a summary of 2018
Bombings in Jiguamiandó awake old fears
In the humanitarian zone of Nueva Esperanza in the collective territory of Jiguamiandó, Chocó, Thursday 6th December wasn’t like any other night. At around 9pm the residents began to hear a loud droning in the sky[1] above that brought back terrible memories from the 1990s when the armed conflict was particularly tense and aerial bombings were an everyday occurrence Continue reading Bombings in Jiguamiandó awake old fears
Defending the rights of communities to recover the land that belongs to them
“I grew up in the middle of violence and forced displacement in the Curbaradó river basin. The memories of violence that I carry with me, have led me to stand up and become a human rights defender, Continue reading Defending the rights of communities to recover the land that belongs to them
“If the rivers could speak, they would tell us about our dead”
“We are a kilometre away from where the bodies were found. They were over there, around the next corner, just left on the road (…)”
We arrive at Argelia, a municipality in the Cauca department, in the heart of the Colombian Massif region. Continue reading “If the rivers could speak, they would tell us about our dead”