Tell the US State Department and Embassy to Act to Protect Colombian Social Leaders and Their Communities' Rights

Between January and August of 2017 over 101 social leaders were murdered in Colombia. Threats and assassinations have continued at an alarming rate. These assassinations largely target activists who are working towards communal change and protecting their territory, crops and livelihoods. And as the lives of social leaders in Colombia are in constant peril, more broadly, so is peace itself. In response to these widespread assassinations and the lack of progress with government programs that promise to address societal needs that drive the armed conflict in the first place, organizations and communities throughout Colombia have launched a series of protests calling for the immediate, full implementation of the peace accord with the FARC guerrilla group. Government forces--many of which are funded by the US and/or use US-produced munitions--have unfortunately responded to these protests/strikes with violent and sometimes deadly repression.


Please join Witness for Peace in supporting our Colombian partner organizations’ demands, including that the US State Department and US Embassy officials in Colombia contact the Colombian government and demand:


·         Immediate, effective protection of social leaders throughout Colombia

·         A peaceful solution to ongoing protests

·         An end to forced coca eradication operations, which demonstrably instigate violence while failing to reduce cultivation in a lasting way, and support instead for genuine and sustainable alternatives to coca cultivation

·         Prompt and complete implementation of the peace accord with the FARC (and the forthcoming accord with the National Liberation Army (ELN), when completed), including meaningful inclusion of Afro-Descendant and Indigenous peoples throughout the implementation process

·         Protection of of Indigenous and Afro-Colombian peoples’ territorial and other collective rights, provided through meaningful inclusion and consultation with Afro-Descendant and Indigenous peoples

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