Sexual violence is endemic to Colombia's long-running armed conflict. Members of all the warring parties have sexually abused and exploited women and girls. This document focuses on the deeply-entrenched impunity that has for so long shielded from justice human rights abusers of all kinds in Colombia. This report examines what, if any, progress has been made by the authorities, particularly since 2008, in addressing sexual violence and impunity.

The Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales (BHRC) will send a delegation of lawyers to Mexico from 19 to 24 September 2011. The aim of the visit is to support the work of human rights defenders (HRDs) through meetings with HRDs themselves, Mexican authorities and diplomats in Mexico City, Guerrero and Oaxaca. In the context of these meetings, the delegation will follow up the results of the work of his previous visit.

Members of the Organization of the Indigenous Me´Phaa People (OPIM), an organization accompanied by PBI, with an office in Ayutla de los Libres (Guerrero) have condemned the recent acts of  aggression against them. The Interamerican Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) recognized that the people working in indigenous organizations in this region are highly vulnerable, and through this the court granted precautionary measures in favor of the members of OPIM and other organization in the region in April, 2009.

Washington, D.C.—Human Rights First is urging Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos to issue an  immediate presidential pardon for wrongfully-convicted human rights defender Principe Gabriel González. The organization noted that the pardon would distance Santos’ administration from the human rights abuses that occurred under his predecessor, including the wrongful prosecution of  González, who is currently detained in Colombia.

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The Cerezo Committee Mexico on August 24 and 25 celebrates several events to commemorate its tenth anniversary. It is also publishing a report on violations of human rights in Mexico during the period of 2009 to 2010.

<media 7928>PRESS RELEASE FROM TLACHINOLLAN HUMAN RIGHTS CENTER OF LA MONTAÑA</media>

• The Attorney General for Military Justice sent the investigations of Inés Fernández and Valentina Rosendo to the Attorney General’s Office of the Republic.

• It is now up to the Attorney General to bring the military personnel responsible for the rape and torture committed against Inés and Valentina to federal justice.