 Good afternoon. I'd like to welcome you to today's Columbia Peace Forum. I'm Ginny Bouvier. I'm a Senior Advisor for Peace Processes here at the U.S. Institute of Peace. And today's event is co-sponsored with the Latin America Working Group Education Fund and the Washington Office on Latin America. And I'd like to thank our collaborators, Jimena Sanchez and Lisa Hogard at the far left of the panel. We're very excited to be hosting today four of the five winners of Columbia's 2015 National Human Rights Defenders Awards. For the past four years, international humanitarian agencies working in Colombia have sponsored this competitive national prize to acknowledge the courageous work of individuals and of local and regional organizations that work to protect and promote human rights in the country. I'd like to thank in particular the Swedish humanitarian agency Diaconia, which has sponsored the visit of these human rights leaders to the United States. And I'd like to introduce Cesar Grajales, who's the National Director for Diaconia in Colombia, to just say a couple of words about the program. Cesar, where? Maybe you could just speak from the microphone there. Good afternoon. I work for Diaconia. It's an NGO for international cooperation that works in more than 30 countries in Latin America as well. The translation is available on Channel 1. You'll find the English, and Channel 3 is the Spanish. Just repeating. Channel 1 for English. Channel 3 for Spanish. I'd like to say hello to everybody. I work for Diaconia. It's an NGO, Swiss NGO, that's for international cooperation that has programs in over 30 countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. In Colombia, we have a program based on the construction of peace for our country, and that's basically the nucleus of the program, the heart of the program. We consider that the defense of human rights, to recognize the rights of victims is an integral part, an essential part of constructing peace. For over five years, Diaconia has been organizing and has set a reward or prize for everyone for human rights, and individuals here are the winners that we had from version 4 for this particular award, which was given by Diaconia, but decided by a jury of Colombians and an international group as well. Diaconia, it's an honor to be with the winners of that particular award for national human rights during their visit here to Washington this year. We're very thankful, particularly to WOLA and Latin American Working Group. We're very grateful for their help and the Peace Institute, which hosts us this afternoon. Before I finish, I'd like to say that the defense is a serious problem in Colombia for human rights. There are statistics of violence that's occurred in Colombia. You can't deny that. Nonetheless, what it has to do with the rights and the defense of human rights is still a serious situation in our country. The last report that we got, Somos Defensores from Diaconia, points out that between July and September of last year, we had 178 assaults against the defenders. 108 of those affected women, which is the first time that women are obviously the most affected by any kind of hostility or aggression. And the lack of respect for these individuals. I state this just to know what you're going to hear as a basis for the winners of this prize. Thank you so much for all of you being here. Thank you, Cesar. Since early this month, the Colombian government and the FARC continue to be in permanent session of peace talks in Havana. They're working on the final two agenda items of a six-point agenda. End of conflict and implementation, verification and endorsement. The UN Security Council recently pledged to establish a political mission in Colombia following the signing of an accord. It's easy here in Washington and even in Havana to forget that the war in Colombia continues and that even with the signing of a peace accord, there are many vested interests in preventing the kinds of changes that will be needed for peace talks to take hold. Despite optimism that a peace agreement will soon be reached at the peace talks, the war in Colombia is marked by a worrisome rise in attacks on human rights defenders and particularly on women. These human rights defenders are the canaries in the coal mine. Their work is critical to a healthy democracy and sustainable peace. If human rights defenders cannot be protected, how can those they defend be provided with guarantees of security? These human rights issues form part of the fabric of the larger security and protection questions that continue to be issues of vital concern as the peace process moves forward into its final stages. In the context of a peace accord, the capacity of the state to offer human rights protections and to promote human rights is essential to a smooth transition process. If it has proven difficult to achieve accountability for attacks against human rights defenders, how much more difficult will it be to ensure the safety of ex-combatants who have given up their weapons? If the FARC is to lay aside their weapons within 60 days of the signing of an agreement, as they have agreed to do, the state must be prepared to assume this protector role that is its responsibility toward all Colombian citizens. These mechanisms have not been adequate in the past and they've not been adequate for human rights defenders in particular. Securing justice in these cases, which enjoy virtual impunity, would be an important confidence-building measure as the parties negotiate the terms for ending the conflict in Havana. Earlier this month, USIP co-hosted a public event with President Juan Manuel Santos and met with President Obama. The two presidents announced the beginning of a new era of Paso Colombia. The United States has now pledged $450 million for post-acord assistance and has announced its intent to help Colombia work to be free of all landmines within five years. We invite our guests today to make their recommendations heard as to how US policies might best assist their efforts to build sustainable peace and protection of human rights and in their country. Today's session will focus on the role of human rights defenders in building a sustainable peace. Our speakers represent peasant, Afro-Columbian and women's organizations. They come from a variety of locations from north of Calca, Comuna Tresa in Medellín, Casanare in the middle Atrato region. We've asked them to discuss the challenges they and their fellow advocates face in their regions, the role of human rights defenders in building sustainable peace in Colombia. And we hope to promote and generate new ideas as well about how more effective protection mechanisms can be designed, how to ensure that those responsible do not enjoy impunity, the role that the defenders might play in relation to the UN political mission that was approved, and in particular the recommendations that they might have for the international community more broadly. In conversation on Twitter at the hashtag Columbia Peace Forum if you care to join us there and we will be tweeting at another address that I don't know at Columbia Peace Forum at USIP Asterisk USIP or amperset you know the little thingy that has now let me introduce our speakers. On my left I'll introduce all of them and then each of them will speak for some 10 to 15 minutes and then we'll open up for questions from the audience. To my left we have Francia Elena Marquez Mina who is winner of the prize of Defender of the Year for the Proceso de Comunidades Negras and the Consejo Nacional de Paz Afrocolombiano Compa. To her left is Luz Elena Galliano she is the winner for Mujeres Caminando por la Verdad a social collective process of the year. Fabián Laverde is next in line he is his organization Corporación Sociale para la Asesoría y Capacitación Comunitaria Cospa P.A.C.C has been the winner of the collective process of the year and to his left is William Rivas who earned the recognition of a lifetime organization for Communitario Mayor de la Asociación Campesina Integral de la Trato Cocomacia he is also part of the Foto Interétnico de Solidaridad del Chocó Fish and to his left we have the other co-sponsors who will be adding some words of commentary at the end Lisa Hogard who is the Executive Director of the Latin America Working Group Education Fund and Jimenez Sanchez who is Senior Associate for the Andes at the Washington Office and will now turn over to Francia to begin Good afternoon to everyone here it is a great pleasure to be here with you and to be able to share with you the experience that we have had in the defense of human rights in my country in Colombia first of all I want to thank IACONIA which is an organization from Switzerland that has been very helpful has been supportive and visualizing all of the work that we do as defenders of human rights Avala for so many years has cried and suffered and struggled beside us particularly through the black communities in Colombia and also the human rights in Latin America they also have been contributing significantly in being able to bring to the United States to show what the violations have been and have occurred in our country first of all I want to tell you that I come from a very ancestral community that dates to 1636 it's called La Toma Suarez Cauca is the area in the north and it is a community that has been there ancestral mining has been going on as well as agriculture since my ancestors were brought from Africa as slaves we have been struggling historically to be re-invindicated as a right rights of an Afro community in Colombia and that's why I'm part of the process of the black community the last year we have been part of the mobilization of black women taking care of life and to protect the ancestral lands this group of women have been publicly been reclaiming the environment the contamination that we have been seeing because of the mining they are using mercury they are using all kinds of things and they are constantly in our territories we have also been part of displaced communities because we have been working as a defense of human rights but this has not been an obstacle for me in continuing to claim of the issues that are going on and the fact that even the Colombian government and also on the part of armed individuals who come to defend the economic interests of the companies that are multinational in nature the award that I received is not the Premio Francia Marcos I have given my face to it but we know that this is part of re-invindication to the historic struggle that the Afro-Columbian community has been dealing with the indigenous communities the peasants the women the students who have helped in the transformation construction of our country and who have been constructing peace in Colombia and it's not just a peace in words or institutional but it's peace that you build with love that you build by planting by taking care of the areas for the food supplies for many of those who live in the cities those of us that also defend the environment the world level is being affected I went to Cuba myself as a fifth delegation of victims even though I don't consider myself a victim I've been a political activist that has been victimized and I think that's different to consider myself an actual victim when I went to Cuba I mentioned talked about all the concerns that the Afro descendants have that have been recognized as an ethnic group in Colombia and what are the concerns are the territorial threats that continue to occur throughout the territories most of our territories for example are going to be exploited for large scale mining promoted by the Colombian government they are going to be carrying out more mining energy producers in the country many of our territories are projected now for expansion into these areas for sugar, sugar cane and so we are not for example having different types of palm trees as well displacing us from our territories because obviously it's more important for them to guarantee that many cars get their tanks filled in Buenaventura nowadays one of the largest ports in Colombia our people are being cut down like you might cut down onions it's a militarized zone and they have these where our brothers and sisters are being cut to pieces and those are situations that concern us greatly within the framework of a peace process that are not being discussed and that are being occurring in every territory all the time with great concern we look at feminicide as you see it as something that's happening in Colombia and this response to the fact that because of all of the issues, all of the suffering that we've seen with the paramilitaries and all of the different actors many of the women have had to take up the flag of the struggle for the dignity of our people, for the struggle for life and the struggle to defend the different territories and the environment and those women are being murdered they're being displaced they're being violated as far as their rights are concerned and not only the women but their families as well consequently there are many concerns that we have in the peace process and we're not saying that we don't want a peace process more than anyone else obviously we have lived in those territories with fumigations bombings in our areas we have seen minds that have been put in the ground and destroyed our families cut people in half when they go to put a plant for Yucca for example or when they go to plant a planton we've seen this we've lived it but we've also seen in our own municipalities the presence of the FARC which basically are guerrilla fighters taking over those areas so I think more than anyone else we do want a peace process we know what war means we know what it means to have helicopters bombing our lands where we can't sleep all night with the fear that perhaps one of those bombs might fall on one of our homes we want a peace process but we don't want a peace process that is just for a development model we want that that is for Colombian society that is for the world that's not what's being promoted so there's a lot of debates on peace it's very beautiful to listen to but the reality is very different we want that the reality be that we have a lasting world peace that our children in the future will not have to flee as we've had to flee in our lives in that sense then as a national council for peace in Colombia Compa has been claiming that those that add at the table with the government and the FARC we need to be able to also be part of the subcommissions that will allow us to discuss and to offer the rights that the community the indigenous and afro community has been recognized to be owed the same for the peasants that have been done tremendous work to defend the territories where they live and to defend their lives nonetheless our requests haven't been denied on the part of the government and in particularly the peace commissioner himself when during different meetings that we had from the 60 victims that went to Cuba when I've requested an answer from him regarding the letters that I myself have presented to them requesting that the black community should be able to directly participate on the implementation of these agreements he answered me that they're not going to talk about ethnic rights in Cuba those rights have already been recognized in the constitution he forgets the fact that the constitution even though it recognized the rights of the black community 23 years later law 70 regarding that has still not been regulated forgets the fact that we live mostly in areas that are rural in the last years most of the black people have been displaced to the cities because their territories have been taken over because have been invaded and based on the projects from the government those territories have basically been infiltrated by armed individuals they forget that many of us have had our children and many of our children brothers cousins nephews all of us have had to go to public forces and to the paramilitary groups and that somehow there have been direct links with the war today it's necessary to be part of the actual discourse on the construction of peace we are as an ethnic group part of the process we also deserve to live in peace and that's not going to occur if the threats continue in these different territories if we continue in a situation of having lost our lands because of the models of development that they're not talking about in Cuba and that the government said is not going to be discussed in Cuba the government has talked about redistribution of lands of a process of one of the agreements that specifically says it's an integral agrarian reform but they don't talk about the deconcentration for example of the land itself they're not going to take the lands away from the owners they're not going to give the land back that were taken away from the blacks they're not going to give the lands back to Balmeras with the help of the paramilitaries literally displaced the community but they do talk about an integral agrarian reform so basically what are we talking about that's part of our question I think for us to sit into advance of the peace process that's solid implies putting all of this on the table the government is saying that the eradication of illicit crops for example that we agree that we do have to take strides in that direction but we believe that the government doesn't know they're not very clear as to how they're going to handle that issue they're talking about eradication perhaps programmed in the future but what's going to happen is when they go to eradicate in one area they basically push up pop up they move to another area completely and that's what happens it moves from one place to the other the United States has contributed to the fumigation of all these territories to supposedly quote-unquote eradicate coke but that has not happened coke has not been eradicated what's been eradicated are the people because they've killed the crops that are for living the water has been contaminated they've destroyed our territories this forced displacement increased with this so-called Plan Colombia which has been celebrated last week and we have nothing to celebrate because Plan Colombia to us did not generate any kind of dignity in life it was violation of human rights I think the United States is now talking about supporting Colombia and all of us are pleased obviously that they are all going to help to give us money for the peace and not pay for war nonetheless we believe that that specific contribution should not go to strengthening public forces or military they know that they have contributed to the violence there is no reason why those funds should be going back there for continuous purchasing of weapons they have to send that to construct those funds for lasting peace in our territory that implies social investment that implies helping that the gaps of inequality that exist in our country can be closed consequently we need the support of everyone the work of human rights in Colombia has been stigmatized many of us when we talk this way they say that we are guerrillas fighters that we are leftists that perhaps oppressed and of course yes we are oppressed because the government has been oppressing us over and over again historically for years today we are raising our voices to say we are defenders of life, of our territories defenses of the environment and as women in a very specific way we have come into this life brought our children into this life and will continue to struggle to bring in also peace and liberty for our people we do not want to continue in the world of violence and of blood in which historically we have lived in I think peace cannot be based on racism and Colombia doesn't want to accept that they don't want to look at the structural racism it's not possible to go forward in a peace process that excludes those that historically have had to carry the load of that war I don't want to speak much more I would like to leave it at that but I think in our hands is the construction of peace in Colombia but it's also in the hands of all of you here that will help grain at a time so peace will become a reality thank you thank you Francia good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon ladies and gentlemen my name is Luselena Galliano from Comuna Tresa in Medellín in Escumbrera first of all I would like to thank Diaconia for having granted me the national prize for the defense on human rights I'm representing women for truth also thank you to Wola for their invitation and thank you to the Latin American working group for being here today and also for supporting us in commune 13 Comuna Tresa we've been suffering the armed conflict since 2001 when our territory was taken over by the guerrilla in 2002 we had Operation Mariscal on the 21st of May there were a lot of arbitrary arrests, displacement forced displacement massacres recruiting of children and young people and the famous Operation Oriol on the 17th of October which is the one that really marked us because that's when most of the massacres took place this operation was led by former president Uribe and general Montoya Leonardo Gallego their military group the 4th brigade and public forces the army and public forces were the ones that invaded our homes and pointing at young people that had nothing to do with the war, they were taken out of their homes, they were murdered they were killed, many of them disappeared this absurd war lasted several days and it really marked us so given the situation a group of women started coming together to denounce everything that had happened in this Comuna Trece, commune 13th we've been fighting for more than 13 long years we've been fighting for justice for comprehensive reparation and the guarantee of non-repetition we've focused mainly on forced disappearance because there are two places they're called Las Escombreras one of them is a gigantic mountain of rubble and right now it's more or less 25 floors high and there are more than 300 bodies buried in here and they're saying that there are no resources to start to dig in this rubble and to recover our beloved relatives and people, the community has been denouncing these situations since 2001 when the disappearances started happening and everything we've heard so far is that the government cannot do anything cannot do anything to find these bodies we created an inter-institutional round table in 2013 to meet with the municipal authorities local authorities to talk about forced disappearance in Comuna Tresen there are some resources available but not to start digging there's a smaller place called La Renera in San Javier but they don't allow for active participation by the victims here only the government can be there and other people from NGOs in 2014 it was actually possible for some of the victims to be involved in this actively and be able to also talk about our own proposals in 2015 the digging started on the 5th of August 2015 based on the justice and peace law there was a demobilized person identified and he this person identified three areas the first one in the first one there were around 50 to 60 people that he personally had killed we are very sad because we had been denouncing this that there had been people buried in surrounding areas to Comuna Tresen Las Escombreras and also throughout the country obviously but our voices had not been heard throughout all these years victims have suffered a great deal both emotionally as well as mentally and physically 15 people from the group have died waiting for the truth to learn about what happened to their relatives to their beloved relatives when the digging started they couldn't find any human remains they found animal remains they found also bags of milk from 1985 but what is happening is the following the victims are witnessing the process and we saw how the terrain was being handled and the excavation started these bags of 1985 were on top of the terrain not where they were supposed to be which was much deeper so we are asking for a preliminary investigation and establish the universe of victims and why that terrain had been removed we are also asking for an investigation of bioparks and condorsas they need to know that people were the ones that took our relatives to be buried in this area in Las Comberedas and that were later on removed from that area in terms of the upcoming excavations we are engaged in other conversations to have this preliminary investigation and to continue with a comprehensive search plan that was developed for the victims there is a national movement of victims by the government that is involved in this and we want to make sure that what we want to do is done they are telling us that another comprehensive plan has to be developed we are going to improve the one that is already in place and if it needs to be extended it will, we will and it can be used as a role model in Colombia and then in terms of the peace accord I believe that if the victim's voice is not heard we would not have a solid peace process mainly because of the importance of clarifying or finding the truth if we can't learn about what happened by whom and why we would be in the dark and I don't think it would be fair because it was the government that acted against our commune and now we are seeing demobilized people that are receiving benefits the military also that is found, military personnel that is found guilty do not serve a long sentence in prison and I think going to prison is actually the best punishment for them we don't need half the truth, we need the whole truth about what happened in our commune in our city with regard to plant Colombia I think that was the worst worst thing that could happen to Colombia the United States gave money for the war and to kill our relatives and our friends that was the worst thing that could happen to us that is why now that the anniversary of plant Colombia is being celebrated we can't celebrate anything I think that money should not be given to the government it should be given to victims among others to displace people because it's impossible it's important to bring education for everyone, it should be invested in education education for people whose rights have been violated thank you very much thank you thank you good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon everyone who is here today I would like to thank you thank you for being here thank you for being willing to listen to us our voices about the war about the peace we have a very crude reality that we're living in Colombia but it is real and is happening in Colombia I would like to talk about three things first of all, the job of human rights defenders in Colombia second I would like to talk about peace building and thirdly about what the national government says to the international community first of all as a human rights defender and a member of Campesinos we were acknowledged by the national prize for the defense on human rights in 2015 under the NGO category and I'm also a member of commission on human rights and guarantees the agrarian summit for Campesinos which is probably the largest convergence of Campesinos and we interact directly with the Colombian high level authorities, national authorities led by the minister of interior I would like I regretfully have to say that in Colombia we're talking about peace without having a policy on human rights in place this is quite serious too serious in fact a human rights policy is not defined by human bullet proof vests it cannot be solved given away cell phones or placing armored cars and escorts to people that need this based on the national government standards being a human rights defender or being a leader of a social movement that puts you into a target by the perpetrators and when I'm talking about perpetrators I'm talking about the capacity that all armed actors have in Colombia including the armed forces in Colombia who can hurt communities in our country in Colombia is very serious so serious that in order for us to be able to progress in terms of the human rights agenda from our social movement the committee on human rights and guarantees met with national authorities and president Santos said that the social movement doesn't have to talk about human international law that is impossible to explain and when I asked the minister of interior Juan Fernando Cristo please give us a specific reason for that he said if we start discussing about human international law we would be kind of playing like combatants and I said where do you live civilians where are civilian goods being protected are we just leaving all those adrift so first of all I would like to say that there are no guarantees here Cesar provided certain figures in 2015 around 50 human rights defenders were killed in Colombia the problem is with the government the national government that doesn't have any type of standards or they get lost when they talk about human rights defenders they understand what it is and you have to show some sort of accreditation so that the attorney general is investigating so that we can prove that we're talking about a trade union leader or human rights defender but a human rights defender is not considered a human rights defender is not a person according to them who has been killed in front of their home the rights of a very small community human rights defender understand that the mere fact of appealing and asking the government to fulfill their obligation and respond and be accountable basically in terms of guaranteeing human rights that person is already defender he doesn't need to go to school he doesn't need to have any type of accreditation and much less he doesn't need a politician to recognize that person as a human rights defender the only thing is for that person to defend life, that's the only condition second thing that I would like to say I believe that the peace discourse has been very interesting as well as complex he tried to demobilize the social movement so to speak but in the meantime he tried to build an agenda involving just a few showing the world that everyone is involved in the accords the poor do not want to continue to sustain or support this word those that have died in the conflict some people are talking about the last 50 years the armed conflict have been our brothers and sisters, the kids the families that have been recruited forcibly recruited by public forces or public forces on the one side or combatants on the other side and they've had to kill their own relatives and just a few families are taking advantage of the war, of the armed conflict most of the deaths most of the disappeared people are members of the poorest communities in Colombia and when they're recruited by the military or the police the government doesn't even ask these people whether they want to be recruited or not therefore the Colombian government has no moral authority here even if they use the law to justify themselves to say that they can be recruited that there's only forced recruitment by illegal groups the government is also doing that they're recruiting people forcibly they're teaching these people to kill I served in the military but luckily I didn't have to kill anyone and I understand that my position is to defend life however I was never asked do you want to join the military or not now we have negotiations ongoing negotiations trying to bring the war to an end and we were not asked how do you think we can build peace we can't allow the process to reverse what has been achieved so far we could see something similar happening in Ecuador with the ELN guerrilla but we can't allow them to say that they are speaking on behalf of all of us and everything that we want to include in the negotiations has been included while negotiations are taking place in Havana or were taking place in Havana the president of Colombia went to a specific area in Colombia and he presented the CEDRES which is a law a law that talks about participation and cooperation with these words but what they are trying to do is to legalize the lands that are in the hands of just a few people and people who didn't really acquire this land in a transparent way we cannot think that by bringing the war to an end, a war between the guerrilla and the Colombian government we would be solving the structural problems caused by the war and much less could we accept that the agenda of the insurgency is the same agenda as the social movement we are talking about different agendas maybe there are similar items of course the war in Colombia and I believe in any place in the world is the same thing the war in Colombia is because of or over the land but in the negotiations the intensity of the conflict decreased in the Guajira however we are seeing kids dying of malnutrition and this is not a joke in El Chaco kids are dying because of hunger and I am talking about this because I am talking about kids because this is what the media is covering but also all people are dying, the elderly a whole generation is dying and then do we have the guerrilla to save these people or do we have the government to try to intervene and try to solve these social problems and try to build peace based on social justice equality and opportunities another issue that I would like to highlight and it has to do with talking about peace as a very moving topic that brings a great deal of attention but in the meantime we see that the military is being strengthened this causes a great deal of concern to us we are saying that to the extent that we can interact with public officials and citizens in the United States we will say that it is not possible to think about peace while the military apparatus in Colombia is being strengthened by the apparatus that is dealing with social movements as if we were an armed actor and we are not hallucinating here last year in El Cauca while indigenous people were mobilizing in order to defend their rights from a helicopter a helicopter that was bought through Plan Colombia they were shooting campesinos and they killed actually one campesino leader with a shotgun and the Colombian government has not promised and is not actually doing anything whatsoever to change the war mentality of the armed forces in other words to change the military doctrine if we have an eventual peace era so that's why we see people demonstrating in the streets and then the police comes and they treat these people as criminals and they're treated as members of the guerrilla as terrorists because that's what they are used to President Santos has publicly stated since the dialogue with the FARC started and he actually said that too recently when he talked about establishing a dialogue with the ELN that the government is willing to talk about peace and that their efforts will be towards building peace and of course we say the same thing we are focused on building peace we don't want to continue to maintain this war with the lives of the poor people but under certain conditions we can't discuss the economic model we can't discuss the political model and much less the content of the political constitution that's what they're saying in other words they do not want to discuss peace if we discuss peace we need transformation and this transformation entails changing certain things that are in writing and that are considered law the law in the meantime we are seeing public forces being used as private security groups paid with public funds to protect multinational companies who are or which are one of the main actors in the war in our territories in the war that is being waged in our territories any type of situation that we have in Colombia is caused precisely because of the presence of these multinationals that are benefiting from the conflict or are causing the conflict because they can't really be in an area if the community doesn't allow them to be there and the government the Colombian government is criminalizing social protests and it's taking to prison it's taking people to prison people that demonstrate if we don't have justice we don't have peace even if the government is signing an agreement with the guerrilla but we're not but we will not have peace in any way in any case thank you thank you Fabian I would like to offer the floor now to William Rivas good afternoon good afternoon to you all my name is William Rivas Torres a member of Cocomacia who is one of the recipients of the national prize for the defense on human rights organized by Diaconia we would like to highlight this initiative by Diaconia who is creating or working making efforts in this regard so that we can have our voices heard we would also like to thank Wola and the Latin American working group who have been supporting us politically in our advocacy work and who have collaborated with us first of all I would like to talk about what Cocomacia is Cocomacia is an organization of black communities through the application of Law 70 Chapter 3 a community council therefore we can manage our territory and ask for a community title or collective title what has Cocomacia done in order to be a recipient of the national prize for the defense on human rights since the 1980s the national government gave Cocomacia or rather all our territory was granted by the national government to logging companies among others and we in Cocomacia started an awareness process with the communities together with the church as well as many community leaders and this awareness project led us to denouncing the situation at a local, national and international level hence we could stop the concessions that the government granted we have also faced very serious situations such as economic blockades where communities that live along the river basing were being affected by the military they would certain checkpoints would be established and families had to pay in order to be allowed to go through this checkpoint we're talking about families paying sometimes thousands of pesos monthly by a single family we worked with many agencies Diaconia, PCS among many others and we started carrying out advocacy work at a national and international level Padilla was there trying to negotiate with us but we said that we could not negotiate with him we managed to put an end to those checkpoints that were established there we worked with the same organizations as well as others and we call it El Atratando because it took place in the Rio Atrato for 20 years this river could not be used by people to get around because on one side we had the paramilitary on the other side we had the guerrilla and so on and so forth and we managed to work here to free the river we've also faced another situation that has to do with mining licenses and this has been a constant problem in our territory let me tell you Cocomacia today owns 800,000 hectares of forest through resolution 045 of the 29th of December of 1997 therefore we own this land these multinationals have been established in our territory in an illegal manner because the government has not carried out a prior consultation with the communities therefore have a look at everything that we've had to go through also we've been displaced we've been pointed at, we've been killed we've been massacred therefore as I say we are facing risks as well as challenges and in terms of challenges I mentioned several of them here is where I would talk about the negotiation process that is taking place in Havana and within this negotiation process an imminent risk is the loss of our territory the legal invasion by the government because the government is the one that is negotiating and if we own a land or if you own your home for example should not be able to say this and this person is going to live there with you without consulting with you that's the situation that's the challenge that we face today and those are the risks that we also have to face of the invasion of our territory in our land that peace process there's a word that the government has plagiarized when they or when we have mentioned that peace cannot be built in Havana peace is not built in Bogota those who came to celebrate 15 years of Planquilla, Colombia don't live in the region, they live in Bogota those of us that are here that are members of the ethnic communities in our country we are in communities that we walk barefoot this is the land we come from this is the area where we crop and where we fish we are the ones that know the situation so when we say that it's constructed from there we're talking about territorial peace the government has already written some booklets about territorial peace personally Coco Masia delegated me to go to the office of the high commissioner for peace and I was there I went and we said peace cannot be built in Cuba it has to be built in our country because we have an organizational structure we have a general assembly we have 124 communities involved it's 45,000 inhabitants that are in the Mediotrato divided by 790 families there is where we should build peace so everyone can say how they understand peace what do they want and he said well why don't you make a proposal and we said we have to agree with the communities we are the representatives but we all have to agree we brought the presentation I took it myself and I handed it over to the high commissioner and he took the presentation and he adapted the language to talk about territorial peace we haven't been able to actually carry out anything as participants that's on the one hand but believe me Coco Masia in everything that they have stated has worked and encouraged all of the armed actors the government that we agree to a negotiated exit socially culturally economically politically every issue that's occurring in our country because the problem is not just an armed conflict if we don't solve the conflict on a social level then let's just close the door turn the lights off and go home and those of us that come from these territories have been saying that our territories, our lands are our lives and because of those lives even our own real lives are at play today communities if the government is going to kill us then it's killing us within our own territory because we're not leaving it's ours within all the challenges that we face we have the rules of law 70 that mentioned about chapter 3 that was regimented and the government has not listened and as my friend just said it's been 23 years since it was enacted it was 2012 they agreed and committed themselves to use law 70 to enact it and nowadays we still live under the same situation as a challenge we have put out to the public our proposals our development plan we have built that community by community where each one of the communities has been able to say what is it that they want in the infrastructure what do they want for health, education in equity for the different ages and how they want to apply all of this to their territory to be able to govern those territories and that was something approved in 2005 nowadays we're now talking to the government and saying that our development plan to a certain level has not been carried out and we want to because it's been 11 years we want to bring it up to date the context isn't the same anymore and what we have received is our missions negativeness on the part of the government what is our mission as an organization to defend the territory to conserve the land to administer properly there's defense of life and defense of human rights that is our slogan and that is our work area in a communique that we put out in 2013 we were requesting the government we demanding that from the government in FARC we were telling them you do not represent us you do not represent us and we've been saying that before 2013 you do not represent us you're representing yourselves as FARC allow us to self-represent as well we have our own structure and any proposal that is made any type of negotiation we are the ones that should represent ourselves we are the ones that should negotiate and we feel that we're not represented in the proposals that the government now has in this proposal in this negotiation that's going on therefore throughout this whole process when we see that the government is celebrating when they come here with a group to celebrate Plan Colombia those of us feel completely impotent for us Plan Colombia created a lot of displacement of our people and I'm talking about an economic blockade that occurred and that's how we lived and that's how we lived throughout that whole situation economic blocks it created displacements, massacres and they haven't even been able to count all of the deaths that have occurred it generated and has generated the loss of the security of the food systems the fact that the invasions of our territory for example you all heard about Palma, Acetera the palm oil and all of that was forced so we really don't understand how the government of the United States can now is going to themes that are going to support the war and a massacre against the civil society that has no defense those of us from the Pacific area of Colombia have demanded the government and today as we're sitting here before all of you we'd like to leave a message with all of you so that you can help us to claim what's right so that the conflict doesn't become worse so that the resources that oil today the United States wants to give us to support Colombia and be invested in the people and to fix the damage that was created by the resources that were given to Colombia before we cannot allow that the massacre continue of our people when we have acquired rights we are in defense of our territory but within that defense is because we already have that in our hands as something legal it has been acquired legally and lastly Cocomacia proposes to the exercise of proper governance of its own territory without intermediaries because we are the authority that by law has been granted us by law 70 and the rules applied they say that we are the in order to be able to govern ourselves and to have our own development plan that we are autonomous Cocomacia however long it lasts cost whatever cost we consider that we are going to win the struggle thank you it's hard to imagine peace when your community your sector has been so excluded so ignored so victimized so endangered by all the armed actors and it's hard to have faith in peace if the war continues raging still right around you I think as all of these heroic defenders have been saying in different ways for a just and lasting peace there really needs to be space for participation for civil society for communities, for victims and real guarantees for them to do that people need to be defenders communities need to be able to speak out to organize to protest to propose and to protect without being stigmatized threatened and killed that's pretty much kind of sums up a very essential thing that needs to happen and often it's talked about but then isn't prioritized and civil society must have a role in constructing and verifying and building any peace I think of the international community sort of thinks of one thing in Columbia in terms of the way to focus, support for any peace process any peace peace accord implementation it's really how to protect and preserve that space for human rights defenders for communities for civil society leaders to play those basic roles that they should play and I think that's important both in terms of what international community diplomacy is and what international communities funding is and if you have that kind of as your guide star that will help that will help and if you don't international community doesn't really focus on that then we could have an accord that sounds nice and a great party and we all want the peace process to move forward but you have to have that enduring peace because honestly I don't think people can stand much more I also just if I turn this over to Hamein I just want to recognize an organization in the audience that has played a really important role in terms of supporting human rights defenders in Columbia and around the world and that's Peace Brigades International and I just wanted to highlight the importance of that organization and many people hear from Peace Brigades that you can talk to and at the end of the presentation Hameina Thank you I'll be very brief because I'm sure you all have many questions for our guests. I'd like to thank USIP for this opportunity and all of you for being here today we as folks who have been working on this for many years celebrate the fact that finally the United States has understood that it needs to change its policy in Columbia if it really wants to see an end to the conflict and that the military security approach isn't the way to go but supporting the peace is the way forward. We also think that the US has a moral obligation to robustly support that peace since it was complicit in the conflict over the past 15 years. We think that the role of the special envoy which has not been at the table but on the side of the table is positive as well as carry an Obama statement supporting the way forward for peace. However, signing an accord is only the first step of an incredibly large undertaking and as you heard today there are many challenges. Some of the big ones that we see right away before the accord is signed is that there needs to be inclusion in a fully participatory way of a sub-commission on ethnic minorities. This is not just the category to tack on at the end after the accords are signed but it needs to be a real structural integration into the accords as well as all of the recommendations made by the sub-committee on gender that has been extremely important in informing the process and guaranteeing that women and women's rights as well as LGBTQ rights are included as well. Also we'll have to see the US do a major change. It needs to harmonize its support for peace with its other initiatives that are already underway, some of whom are very good, like the US Labor Action Plan that came about because of the FTA and the CAPRI the US Racial Action Plan which includes some 13 agencies supporting Afro-Columbian indigenous issues. The US is going to have to continue to play a big role along with the international community on guaranteeing security not just of the demobilized persons that could undermine the peace but also civil society helping reconciliation efforts, seeing how it can actually address the organized crime structures that are still prevalent throughout the country, what do you call them, paramilitaries of Brekrem or whatever name you give them, they're there and they're a problem. Guaranteeing alternative economic sustainability for folks not only who demobilize but also for folks who are going to be away from the drug trade or coca cultivation in a way that actually can compete with the that market. And I think perhaps the biggest contradiction is going to be helping Colombia with its peace agenda which runs in some ways contrary to a lot of its economic agenda with all of the commitments it's made with the numerous FTAs that it has set forth around the world including the big one with the United States. If you really want peace in the country you need to root out inequality and have an economic sustainable system that is for everyone, not just the elites in the country. At the same time you'll need a complementary process with the ELN that is somehow tied into all of this. So I guess I'm just saying that there are a tremendous amount of things to do. It would be a complete mistake for the United States and the international community to just check off the box and say that peace has happened and a court has been signed and walked away. We don't want that to happen. We think that the President's proposal of $450 million is not enough. If the U.S. was giving $600 million, $700 million for the war it should be giving at least that for the next 10 years for constructing the peace. It needs to be a robust package that doesn't just look at building the government's capacity to build institutions in areas where it is weak to build that strong civil society that can monitor, verify and make sure that those accords are properly implemented. There needs to be the integration of those two worlds, the formal Columbia and the other Columbia which has developed on its own and autonomously throughout. Afro-Columbians and indigenous are particularly affected by the conflict. They're not the only ones, obviously everyone's been very affected by the specific collective land rights and specific situations that can't just be added after the fact. I just want to emphasize that and that engagement needs to happen. The U.S. has actually been over the past five years one of the most positive actors in getting Afro-Columbian issues heard and we hope that it continues to do that. We also hope that within the package there is a specific Afro-Columbian indigenous package because we think that if you just do something that cuts across everyone ends up not focusing on anyone and that's not usually useful in this case. So lastly just to say it's an honor to be with these wonderful folks here today as much as possible. We hope that you all can support them and not just security but their proposals and making sure that their voices and proposals are integrated in an effective way to solidify the peace in Colombia. Thank you Lisa and Jimena. We will be opening for questions. We have two mics on one on each side of the room. I'd like to say a special thank you to Maria Antonia Montes who helped to prepare at the USIP and all the people around the Institute who made this come together. Maria Antonia could you stand because I'm also going to ask you to fill out evaluation forms and she's the person that's going to send. Also I'll just mention Sebastian Bernal from WOLA and I'm not sure if Lisa if there's somebody in particular you want to thank at log. Angelica Albalé and James Mastery also. Thank you. And I think the last thing we have this room until 3.30 so we will be ending at 3.30 sharp but we do have a few minutes for some questions and before we go into the questions I would like to thank my my thankfulness for the presentations that you've made for the work that you do. My prayers for your safety on your return and your continued safety of your communities and your organizations. It's a delight to have you here and I hope to have you back another time. Thank you. And now we'll open up to the audience. If you could please identify yourself and if you're with an organization the organization that you're working with. Okay. There we go. You've got a mic coming. My name is Jim Jones. Jim Jones. I'm a citizen of the United States. Thank you for your presentations, for your comments. I have one question. Let's imagine that you were advisors to the U.S. government and you're in a conversation with the government. What type of advice would you give Americans? Please be brief and concise. What type of advice would you give the government? Thank you. Maybe two or three more questions and then we'll give around. I don't think we're going to have much time for more than that. Yes, gentlemen here. Thank you. My name is Armando Mosquera. I'm from El Choco in Colombia. I have a question for the speakers. When you talk about Cocomacia, the land that Cocomacia owns, I would like to ask you what are you producing given all the problems that you faced with the presence of the FARC and the paramilitary and the government and so on and so forth. What happened with displaced people, international speaking? I was displaced 23 years ago. Internationally I was an asylum seeker here in the United States and now I live here. You were talking my third question about the communes in Medellin. What type of communes suffered this problem and how many are there specifically in Medellin they're suffering the same problem. First of all, I would like to thank the human rights defenders that we have here today for the work they do and how brave they are. It's been an honor for us to support you in your fight for many years in Colombia. Along the same lines of James' question but from an approach more of the international community we have many people here that work for international NGOs. So what do you think what do you want international NGOs to do at this point right before signing a peace accord but also after the signing of the peace accord in terms of support of watching observing what is happening in Colombia to the speakers I'd just like each of you to note how you understand guarantees of no repetition. What does this mean for each of you? And then maybe we can start I don't know if one of you wants to start. Fabian, do you want to start? Let's be very precise here. I think we've already presented a lot of general or background information and now I would like to answer the question posed by the US citizen James who spoke first and then Moira. First of all I think we've always been crystal clear when we've told the US people and civil society organizations that work on Latin America and on Colombia specifically and the government the US government that the first thing that needs to be done is to verify that the money that was requested for a specific situation brought the results that were expected and to measure the positive and negative impact of that money Number two the US government must ask any government that they collaborate with or any government that requests money from the US government to see what type of work they're doing with the community how they are engaging the community in the case of Colombia the funds for past Colombia were granted and a need was identified to develop specific items within the budget together with civil society and in terms of Moira's question a foreigner in Colombia means that their opinion will be heard and his presence can really help human rights defenders and this sacrifice that some of you have had to undergo as well as other people from other countries they had to leave their families they had to leave their countries and they came to Colombia to support us in my opinion that is as brave job as the one done by any human rights defender in Colombia or by a Colombian there has to be also monitoring of what is happening we also need feedback from you we need to hear from you what type of lies are being told here and what type of things are true are being told I would like to add on to what my colleague said first of all I would like to answer the question posed by the US citizen if I were a judge and if I were to prosecute someone I would not to take into account just your arguments I would take into account also the arguments of the other part let me explain myself the government of Colombia has said and shown that there have been specific results achieved but they have not been verified and the victims have not been consulted therefore there is a problem there and it is precisely for this very reason that we are contacting the US government as well as all the agencies that are here today we want to see your advocacy work to make sure that those resources are not used in supporting the war but rather in supporting other efforts that will bring peace putting emphasis on victims or people who were one where another heard by plan Colombia or by the government the Colombian government that on the one hand and then on the other hand sometimes I also have sense of humor when God was asking for 100 pesos and the priest gave 50 he would say Christ I would like to ask that please don't send me with an intermediary from the 100 that I asked for the priest only gave me 50 therefore what I want to say is that there are so many middlemen in terms of the resources that are being sent that we don't get anything it stays in the institutions and those resources are used to continue to hit hard hit the community is quite hard and then my friend from Colombia was asking what do we produce well we produce life we've we've done a lot of resistance we are not allowed to produce freely and openly but we are producing Embora Hall and Chantaduro quite hard now but we are also producing avocados Lula Yuka we have fish but if we don't have any guarantees to develop to be able to develop it will be the government as well as the armed conflicts that will hinder our progress and then in terms of international organizations my answer goes along the lines of the answer that I gave to the U.S. citizen I would like to ask the U.S. government to make sure that the funds arrive get to the hands of our communities of the people that need those funds and as my colleague said the voice by a foreigner in Colombia is heard therefore they can do a lot of things in Colombia and in terms of the people as I leave here in Colombia I would like to say that the census is done based on the collective land you might not be in that territory present there but that land will be waiting for you because you are included in the census therefore I would like to invite you to come back and we will warmly welcome you well in terms of what type of advice would I give to the U.S. government I would give the following to bring more visibility to the problem in Colombia that has to do with the violation of human rights and the armed conflict that we are still suffering to tell the world everyone needs to know about this we can't just stay here listening to each other then with regards to what my friend from Chacoa asks I represent Comuna 13 from Medellin but here we have all the communes represented because several communes have been victims of the armed conflict mainly when it comes to murderers and human rights violations Tres, well communes number three, six, ten thirteen among others all of them have suffered because of the armed conflict and the disappearance violations of human rights with regard to international organizations now that the new now that there is a new plan with Colombia it would be good to permanently monitor these funds to see what happens it would not be good to have this funding in the hands of just the government but to make sure that they get out of the communities, the victims everyone that has suffered from the scourge of the war based on the first question I believe that the first advice is to put love and hope into the whole structure so we have reality possibilities in our country if we have love and hope for everything that we do I think we can succeed and to save the world from everything that's going on secondly I believe that an example of struggle and resistance is something that hasn't been done by just one person it's all of us in 2009 if it weren't for the international organizations that helped first of all so that I would even have a visa so I could come here to talk to you and secondly so that I could visit throughout the United States and tell my tale to the students of all we are living through in my country I remember that many times with the displacement eight different times that we had by public forces every time it happened all of the students would write letters they would write to the council in our country and they would block and then they'd say don't send us anymore we're just going to call President Uribe and when they called Uribe he would be like put in a position where he was forced to call the officials that were creating this displacement and to stop it that did help us many times we were almost assassinated by paramilitary groups and we had to hide but we did this with Wola and with other international groups from here that do defend human rights throughout the world they would give us an early warning and it helped so that politically when they wanted to do anything against us they would be held back they would stop thanks to all of those efforts is that I am alive today and sitting here so I think international solidarity that sometimes is just used for discourse I think in these specific issues when it saves lives that's when it's the reality that's when it really works and I think that's part of my advice is to continue to do that to continue to take those steps that will allow a determined amount of time to save the lives of a community even just one individual the United States has been providing resources and part of those are destined to the African communities it wasn't because the United States just wanted to contribute to our communities but it was also thanks to the efforts and the work that many organizations do for lobbying and information regarding the real situation we're living through nonetheless those resources that are so important were directed and the government directed them as far as they were concerned to strengthen, mostly to strengthen their own institutions so the interior ministry and the interior minister for example now has an office for ethnic offices and supposedly we have to deal with them but that office for ethnic issues isn't really there to work on the defense of our issues they're basically there to defend the businessmen that reach those territories that belong to our communities that's where the problem occurs when consultation has to be made that's the agency that certifies whether there is a group of Afro-Columbians there and if a businessman is interested in that area they say oh no they don't exist they don't live there and that puts in risk that that community will be displaced that did happen in La Toma what we want today is that at least the resources will be directed so that they don't go to the institutions but they go to strengthen the initiatives of our communities he's already been said there are plans they're developing plans that have already been created by the different groups the indigenous communities the Afro communities have already done that but many times our plans are just left on the table there are other priorities to the government and it's the priority for their own model of development which is obviously the one that goes before those of the community so I think we have to demand that those resources go to the right areas to have the lives of the communities improved on the other hand the middle men we know that resources were handed over through USAID and then USAID sent them to some other agency for some type of a divoca for cooperation and then they kept most of the resources for administrative charges so 30% of those resources reached the community and 70% are left in the administration that doesn't make any sense it doesn't because it would be they should justify for us for example we tried to justify resources we never got I worked on a project for example to strengthen the traditional farms because I am an agro agro specialist and it was very sad for me because I was paid 800,000 pesos a month well a family not monthly but throughout the year with a project a productive project they would only get 300,000 pesos so where was the equity there giving an example of what I won 800,000 pesos a month compared to a family for the whole project time they would only get 300,000 in other products so we went we took pictures we set up beautiful reports we got signatures and that justifies what we've done but what is the real impact to the community so I think that's part of the efforts that have to be made we have to demand that there has to be consultation of the communities that those projects are not just imposed on us that the communities should decide what it is they want what it is they need to be strengthened and I think that's part of the advice that we have to be able to give I'm not going to say a lot about the situation of the people that are displaced internationally I haven't lived that experience I have not had that occur to me almost happened to me but I would imagine that leaving your own land just for me to see the land where I was born even being in my own country is very difficult for those that are miles and miles away from the land of their birth as they said at least that's how I feel if you ask me what crops we had I was studying law but on the weekends I went with my son and I would set up all kinds of platano and sugar cane which is what we plant in the north of Kaoka and I'd go to Mina now I'm not doing any of that I stopped being a black woman that went to the mines to do traditional work together with my mother going with my mom to plant crops with my children now I'm a city woman that has to be thinking about how I'm going to pay for rent how I'm going to pay for service et cetera et cetera and our lives ends up being dependent on all of these issues how do I pay rent and we stop being a community so now that's what my life is like now so forced displacement it's not only that you leave the land you were born in but also the cultural practices the ancestral practices of our community that are lost you feel that you're leaving that and it's not part of your life anymore so I think for the partner if you go to another country it's got to be much harder I think that that's what you're living through it's very hard not be able to go to Chaco to dance a Sambacho when that was part of your life it was part of what you did and lastly I think I've already mentioned how we contribute I think responded how the NGOs and organizations should contribute in the best way I think I've already answered that lastly to talk about a guarantee that there is no repetition to what's happened the discussions we've had the government deal specifically with that issue we are living situations of violence still within our territories last year FARC killed one of the Afro-Columbian leaders in Tumaco but we're also seeing the incursion of the paramilitaries into our territories we're seeing the contamination of our rivers as the mobilization of black women we've demanded for the government to start a study on the impact of mining on the lives of that community and the government says yeah we'll do it but it will be only under my conditions and they do it but they do it to their own ends so we want our scientific proof of the contaminants of mercury and cyanide how many of the women are sick now they've gotten cancer because they're putting mercury into our rivers as if it were nothing so we won't finish the peace process with weapons they won't end with us perhaps it'll just be a slower process with contamination that is being generated by the mining exploitations in our territory so I myself don't know what the guarantees of no repetition could be but I think that's part of what we're asking the government what are the guarantees so that those events don't continue to happen even after you sign the agreement and the implementation of the agreement and that's part of our debate and discussion so as an ethnic group we have mentioned and the peasants also have said the need to participate in the process and to set up criteria principles and guarantees that will allow us that the rights will not be lost so that it will be a peace process that will guarantee the future and that's very clear to all of us I'd like to say a couple of things I think we've seen in today's panel the real impact of the war on many lives and this is just a representation of a very small number of people but we've also seen the real deep shared desire for peace and I think that's something we can leave with the challenges ahead are enormous but we have here a glimpse of the tremendous human capacity that exists within Columbia to address them and I would just kind of a side note just a reminder Columbia has many different realities within it if you go to Bogota you will leave with a very different sense of what the impact of the war has been then you will if you go to any of the territories or areas where the human rights defenders that we have with us today live and I think the other piece that really comes out is the importance of supporting peace of supporting civil society and independent autonomous groups and individuals who can hold to account the parties the FARC and the government for the promises that they will be making when they sign up peace accord so as we think about what the international community can do to support peace it's really important not to just think about funneling everything through the government it's very important to support the government and it's project for peace it's also very important to have independent actors who can be on the ground keeping track of what's happening and making sure that the peace accords really are completed thanks very much for being here thank you to our panelists and we look forward to seeing you at the next event good to see you it was very touching I was really very thankful for receiving it yeah good to see you I owe you a new I'm fine thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you it's important yes it's important to talk to you it's very important to talk to your parents even in the beginning We understand each other. Exactly. But now we are working on this project with FOPAC. We are not working anymore. Suddenly they implemented another project, but they didn't look for us, they didn't consider us. And it generated a connection between the community and the major group. It broke like the channel of... So it would be good to implement... I don't know... new programs... Yes, yes, yes. But it has an incident. But in the first project we worked on, that was... a matter of... That was a food project, where we established a farm, with the people, what other things we did in the project, we made a strong corporate establishment of the CEDE. No, but with Iraq... With Iraq we are not working directly with us. But I think the community needs to do it. But it has to be nurtured and supported. Okay, okay. Anyway, I don't need a food. The question still stands, if you still want to put time down for me. Yes, it's important. In two weeks you can find 50 minutes. Okay, that would be fine. Please send me, when you find the open time. It's been busy with the president coming in. We have another meeting in two more weeks. Anyway, thank you for coming. Okay. Hi Andrew. Thank you so much. Thank you. Okay, we'll shoot me a note, if you have a specific issue or whatever. Okay, I'll keep an eye out for it. Hello. How are you? Great. Where are we from? From Colombia, yes, but we work here, so we're here to visit you. To get out of here. How do I do it? I have to go this way. Yes.