The International Office for Human Rights Action on Colombia

Day: 10 May 2020

Oidhaco and international organizations repudiate military illegal intelligence activities and ask public statement by European countries and institutions

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The 25 signatory organisations strongly reject illegal military intelligence activities against human rights defenders and call for the truth to be established and for those responsible to face the legal consequences.

Brussels, 11 May 2020

The 25 signatory organisations strongly reject illegal military intelligence activities against human rights defenders and call for the truth to be established about these activities and for those responsible to face the legal consequences. The organisations also call for guarantees that these activities will not occur again in the future and for protection for victims and witnesses.

We would like to express our serious concerns about information published in the Colombian news magazine Semana on 1 May 2020, relating to the existence of “secret files” containing personal information about at least 130 people, including journalists, trade unionists, human rights defenders, lawyers and politicians. The information includes details about their social and professional contacts, their homes, their families, their movements and other private information that has been compiled without legal justification. In the past, European Union institutions and European NGOs working with Colombian civil society have also been the targets of these kinds of intelligence activities.

Our solidarity is universal.

We are deeply concerned about all victims of armed conflict, repression and violence around the world — from Sudan to Syria, including the persecution of the Rohingya and so many other crises that often receive less international attention than they deserve. Each of these situations calls for solidarity, remembrance, justice and action.

However, we have decided to specifically highlight the message ‘Stop Genocide in Palestine’ because what is happening in Palestine represents not only a human tragedy of enormous magnitude, but also a direct challenge to the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law and to the rules-based international system itself. The indifference and complicity of much of the international community in the face of the apartheid regime imposed by the Israeli government on the Palestinian people represent one of the greatest moral and political contradictions of our time.

The persistent violation of essential norms — such as the protection of the civilian population, the prohibition of collective punishment and respect for proportionality in the use of force — not only has devastating consequences for the Palestinian population, but also erodes the global mechanisms designed to limit the power of states and prevent abuses.

When these rules are repeatedly breached without any effective consequences, the framework that protects all populations in conflict situations, anywhere in the world, is weakened. Therefore, speaking out in this case does not mean ignoring other forms of suffering, but rather emphasising the urgency of defending an international order which, if it collapses, leaves everyone in a more vulnerable position.

Drawing attention to this situation is, therefore, an act consistent with the universal values we uphold: the protection of life, human dignity and respect for international law, without exception.

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