Colombia

Following years of negotiation that began in 2012, the Colombian government and the FARC-EP signed a peace agreement, ending the decades old armed conflict that took the lives of thousands of Colombian civilians and resulted in large scale internal displacement, disappearances and other human rights violations.  All of the organisations PBI accompanied were involved in the Peace Process which promised an end to the 60 years of bloodshed.

The early 2000s saw a rise in urban violence, despite peace negotiations between the government and the FARC-EP. Hundreds of civilians were injured, killed and disappeared during armed clashes between the FARC-EP and the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (UAC) and between other legal and illegal armed groups, as well the millitary. 

Following an increase in attacks on human rights organisations in the region, PBI opened a new office in Medellin, to accompany the Association of Family Members of the Detained Disappeared (ASFADDES), the Committee in Solidarity with Political Prisoners (CSPP), the Grassroots Training Institute (IPC), and the Corporation for Legal Freedom (CLB).

On 16th May 1998, paramilitaries murdered seven local inhabitants and disappeared another 25 people who had been taking part in a community fundraising event in Barrancabermeja (Santander).

PBI accompanies José Albaer Restrepo of the Lawyer’s Collective Corporation (CCAJAR), who represents the victims and their families, many of whom are still seeking justice.  

In December 2013, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights found the Colombian State guilty of the mass forced displacement of afro-descendent communities resulting from ‘Operation Black September’ and ‘Operation Genesis’. More than 70 people were also murdered or disappeared during the subsequent militarization of the Lower Atrato.