Amnesty International urgent action re land rights activist killed in Colombia

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Stewart in Colombia

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Apr 30, 2013, 1:26:40 PM4/30/13

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The following Amnesty International Urgent Action came into my my in-box via the Canadian Council for International Cooperation's Americas Policy Group --of which CPT Colombia is amember. It is yet another example of how victims of forced displacement, far from receiving state protection and land restitution, are being met with lethal force. Last week my teammate and I were present when shots were fired in Las Pavas while formerly displaced campesinos were bringing building materials onto their land. CPT Colombia will be hosting an international delegation to Las Pavas from late May to early June.

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COLOMBIA: PEASANT FARMER KILLED AFTER THREATS

Gunmen thought to be paramilitaries have killed a land rights activist in northern Colombia, and have threatened to kill peasant farmers trying to assert their rights over land in the region.

Land rights activist Narciso Enrique Tehrï¿½n Mejï¿½a was shot dead as he slept on 12 April. He was a member of the Association of Land Workers (Asociaciï¿½n de Trabajadores del Campo, ASOTRACAMPO). He had been in his home in El Tamarindo, Galapa Municipality, Atlï¿½ntico Department. According to police reports, he was killed by a pistol with a silencer. His father, Narciso Tehrï¿½n Maldonado, is the vice-president of ASOTRACAMPO, which represents over 130 families who have been peacefully occupying part of the El Tamarindo farm since 2001.

A paramilitary group operating in the area has repeatedly threatened to kill peasant farmers living in El Tamarindo. The local civilian authorities used the security forces in an attempt to enforce orders to evict the peasant farmers on 28 January 2012. These orders had been obtained by powerful economic interests who are claiming ownership of the land. Local paramilitaries threatened the peasant farmers during this attempted eviction, but it did not succeed.

A paramilitary threatened an El Tamarindo peasant farmer on 9 April, telling him that he had to leave the area: ï¿½You are going to leave this place whether you like it or not, this land has an ownerï¿½ (Saldrï¿½n de aquï¿½ a las buenas o a las malas, estas tierras tienen su dueï¿½o).

Please write immediately.

* Urge the authorities to guarantee the safety of the families of El Tamarindo, in strict accordance with their wishes.

* Ask them to order full and impartial investigations into the death threats received by the families, publish the results and bring those responsible to justice.

* Insist that they fulfill their obligations as set out in the 1998 UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders.

* Remind them to take action against paramilitary forces and break any links between them and the security forces, in line with repeated UN recommendations.

Here is the contact information you need:

Presidente Juan Manuel Santos

Presidente de la Repï¿½blica

Palacio de Nariï¿½o, Carrera 8 No.7-26

Bogotï¿½, Colombia

Fax: ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ 011 57 1 596 0631

Salutation: ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ Dear President Santos / Excmo Sr. Presidente Santos

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development:

Juan Camilo Restrepo

Ministerio de Agricultura y Desarrollo Rural

Carrera 8 No.12B-31, Piso 5

Bogotï¿½, Colombia

Email: ï¿½ï¿½ despacho...@minagricultura.gov.co

Salutation: ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ï¿½ Dear Minister / Estimado Sr. Ministro

Please send a copy to

His Excellency Nicolï¿½s Lloreda Ricaurte

Ambassador for Colombia

360 Albert Street, Suite 1002

Ottawa, Ontario K1R 7X7

E-mail: emba...@embajadacolombia.ca

Human rights Non-government organization:

Comisiï¿½n Intereclesial Justicia y Paz

Calle 61A, No. 17-26

Bogotï¿½

Colombia

Additional information

Some 135 families who had been forcibly displaced from their homes in Cï¿½rdoba, Magdalena and Cesar departments occupied 120 hectares of the El Tamarindo Farm, in Atlï¿½ntico Department, in 2001. The farm had been abandoned. In 2007, the state authorities announced that a Free Trade Zone would be established in an area including the El Tamarindo farm. In 2008 a local business began legal proceedings claiming ownership of the land.

Millions of hectares of land have been seized during Colombiaï¿½s long-running armed conflict, often through violence against the rightful owners, especially Indigenous People, Afro-descendant and peasant farmer communities. The various parties to the conflict ï¿½ paramilitaries and the security forces, acting either separately or in collusion, and guerrilla groups ï¿½ have driven over five million people from their homes during the course of Colombiaï¿½s long-running armed conflict.

Leaders of displaced communities and those seeking the return of stolen lands have been killed or threatened for claiming rights over lands on which they have lived and farmed over several years. More people have been threatened or killed since the Victims and Land Restitution Law (Law 1448) came into force at the beginning of 2012. This law provides for reparations for many survivors of human rights abuses, including those perpetrated by state agents, as well as land restitution for some of those forced off their lands. However, many victims of the conflict will still be excluded from making claims for reparation, while significant areas of land misappropriated might still not be returned to their rightful owners. There are not enough safeguards to ensure that people whose land is returned to them are not again forced to hand over control over their land, even to those who had driven them off it. Over the last year many of those campaigning for land restitution and the recognition of their rights over lands they have been occupying, or seeking to return to their lands, have been threatened or killed, and this may undermine the implementation of the law.

On 9 April 2013, only days before the killing in El Tamarindo, Elver Cordero Oviedo, of the Victimsï¿½ Roundtable of Valencia Municipality, was killed in Valencia Municipality, Cï¿½rdoba Department. He had been on his way to a local march for peace when two men on motorcycles shot him.

Kathy Price, Campaigner

Amnesty International Canada (English Speaking Branch)

1992 Yonge Street, 3rd Floor, Toronto, Ontario M4S 1Z7

Tel: 416.363.9933 ext 322

Fax: 416.363.3103

Email: kpr...@amnesty.ca

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