On Saturday 18 April 1998, Eduardo Umaña Mendoza was murdered. twenty-eight years on, Colombia remains one of the most dangerous countries for human rights defenders. Why? What can be done? We will attempt to answer these questions by:
A delegation of the Nasa people, belonging to the Association of Indigenous Councils of Northern Cauca (ACIN) – Çxhab Wala Kiwe, visited Brussels as part of an advocacy agenda aimed at raising awareness of the serious human rights situation faced by indigenous communities in northern Cauca, in a context of ongoing armed conflict. Accompanied by
We would like to thank MEP Rima Hassan and Cristina Guarda for raising the issue of the risk that EU trade and supply chains linked to Colombia may be connected to human rights violations. Here is the full text of the question submitted on 17 March, which can be found on the European Parliament’s website at this
Article by Agencia Pública Baudó In this article (in spanish), Camilo Alzate González explains that “for decades, the press and successive governments promoted open-cast coal mining in Cesar and La Guajira as a means of bringing progress to a poor region far removed from the country’s major industrial centres. Now that mining has gone into
CLACSO Research We recommend reading this study (in spanish), produced by researchers from Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Paraguay and Guatemala. This work brings five studies into dialogue with one another, forming a coherent picture: gender-based violence is neither isolated incidents nor a temporary phenomenon, but rather structural mechanisms activated and reconfigured within a global context where
The debate drew on: The CELAC-EU Civil Society Working Group, a coalition of more than 80 civil society organisations, networks and platforms from Latin America and the Caribbean and the European Union, of which OIDHACO is a member, aims to monitor the commitments made at official summits and in the CELAC-EU Roadmap to ensure they
How do REDD+ project offsets affect life in local communities in Colombia? At OIDHACO, we wish to highlight this important report produced by the Centre for Business and Human Rights on carbon markets and their relationship with human rights. This report analyses the impacts of the voluntary carbon market in Colombia, with a focus on
Hundreds of organisations (including OIDHACO) and social movements reject the corporate-led deregulation agenda. Europe’s industrial and economic strategy must strengthen — not sacrifice — environmental integrity, social justice, human rights, labour rights and democratic accountability. Strong standards are not a burden — they are the foundation of Europe’s long-term economic resilience. Public money and political
PUBLIC STATEMENT – 14 March 2026 Four years after the murder of the Nasa indigenous leader José Miller Correa, former councillor of the Association of Indigenous Councils of Northern Cauca (ACIN), the crime remains unpunished. The undersigned human rights organisations reiterate our demand for truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-repetition, and express our deep
We would like to thank MEP Jaume Asens for raising the issue of the importance of strengthening the national safeguards mechanism for human rights defenders in Colombia. It is a vital channel of communication between human rights organisations and the Colombian state. Here is the full text of the question submitted on 24 February, which
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.