Colombia is in the throes of its worst social crisis in decades as citizens have maintained a national general strike for over six weeks now, despite attacks from Canadian and US-armed security forces that have killed dozens and wounded hundreds. CoDev partners NOMADESC, SINTRACUAVALLE and FECODE are either participating in the strike or are in the streets as human rights observers.
This new video provides a useful update in English on the situation.
Labour and Human Rights Program director with NOMADESC staff
By Filiberto Celada (Human and Labour Rights Program Director, CoDevelopment Canada)
During CoDev’s Schools Territories of Peace Canadian teacher delegation to Colombia, I took some members of the delegation to observe a pedagogical encounter in Monteria, Cordoba province in Colombia’s Caribbean Region. Together with teacher delegates Anjum Khan and Susan Trabant, we travelled to the conference with John Avila, former director of the Colombian Teachers Federation’s (FECODE) Centre for Education Research and Development (CEID) and Jose Luis Ortega, executive secretary of the Córdoba Teachers’ Association’s (ADEMACOR) CEID.FECODE and ADEMACOR organized the conference entitled: Pedagogical Movement, School Territories of Peace and III Pedagogical National Congress and 2nd Provincial Encounter of Secretariats of Pedagogical Affairs – ADEMACOR 2019. Between 15-20 teachers attended this provincial encounter at ADEMACOR facilities where members of CEID and FECODE presented an analysis of the Schools as Territories of Peace program and the education policies and agreements with the Colombian Government. The last day of the encounter, 10 teachers presented and shared their alternative pedagogical experiences within 10 different schools.
It is important to highlight the fact that some teachers were presenting their alternative pedagogical experiences as part of their Master’s thesis in education. It was very motivating to witness that even that it was their own thesis, the teachers were open to share their methodology and results and welcomed their colleagues to use what they had developed in other schools without caring about copyrights.
After the Schools Territories of Peace Delegation was over, I traveled to the city of Cali in southwestern Valle del Cauca province to meet with CoDev partner NOMADESC (Association for Research and Social Action). While visiting Cali I was able to:
1) Introduce myself and meet with NOMADESC’s staff, explain CoDev’s model of partnership and international solidarity;
2) Meet with NOMADESC’s beneficiary population: members of the community of el Jarrillon and of Buenaventura;
3) Meet with NOMADESC’s Director Berenice Celeita to evaluate the project Comprehensive Defense of Life, Territory and Culture in Colombia.
4) Participate as International Observer in the National Congress of the Republic of Colombia’s session in the City of Santander de Quilichao in the department of El Cauca, organized by Senator Alexander Lopez due to the acts of genocide against the indigenous guard in Colombia’s Pacific coast.
by Education Program Director, Wendy Santizo
CoDev accompanied a Canadian teacher delegation to visit Colombia and learn from the “Schools as Territories of Peace” project FECODE is implementing across the country. Our visit coincided with the celebration of provincial pedagogical circles encounters, where teachers shared their experiences in bringing peace education to the classroom. Pedagogical circles are made up of teachers, school principals, parents and students to discuss and create alternative pedagogies that will result in promoting peace, dialogue, conflict resolution, historical memory and democratic participation in their communities.
The delegation split up and visited three provincial encounters in Montería, Córdoba; Cúcuta, Norte de Santander and Fusagasugá in Cundinamarca.
Three of the experiences presented that most caught my attention were the “7 Hats”, “The Memory of the River” and “My History”.
The first provides students with a tool they can use to analyze any conflict situation and decide how to react in a constructive way. There are seven different coloured hats, each representing a question or perspective of looking at the conflict. Once the student answers these questions, they are in a better position to talk about it and solve it in a peaceful way.
The second is a long-term school project, it was created to recover the historical memory of the local river. It begins with students researching the history of the river, its names, where it originates, what stories are linked to the river, fiction or real, when did the contamination of the river begin and why. Today the school has created a project to protect the river and plant hundreds of trees.
The third consists of students interviewing their grandparents or elders in the family and neighbourhoods and asking: What was school like before? What was the neighbourhood like? What is the story of their town? These stories and anecdotes are shared in the classroom and collective memories begin to be recovered, as well as stronger ties across generations.
The delegation also had the opportunity to visit several museums and galleries including the photographic exhibition “The Witness” by Jesus Abad Colorado in the National University of Colombia. The exhibition demonstrates how communities and schools have experienced the armed conflict and were affected by multiple armed actors.
Meetings were held with FECODE’s Executive Committee and representatives of the CUT (Colombian labour central) Executive to speak about working conditions in Colombia, the impact on workers of the entry of Colombia into the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD, as well as analysis around the national strike that was being prepared for November 21st.Among the demands of the strike are: No more tax, wage and labour reforms without consultations; An end to the killings of social and environmental leaders; the right to healthcare for teachers and their families; Strengthening of the national teachers’ social security fund, and; Implementation of agreements previously signed with the national government, that include the implementation of a diploma program for teachers in peace education and declaring schools as Territories of Peace.
The teachers’ unions seek peace with social justice, reconciliation and truth. FECODE prepared a report with detailed cases of teachers, social leaders and unionists who were victims of systematic accusations, persecution, threats, forced disappearances and assassinations to be presented to the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) as part of their commitment to the clarification of truth in Colombia.
FECODE’s “Schools as Territories of Peace” project is facilitated by CoDevelopment Canada with support from the BC Teachers’ Federation, the Ontario Secondary Teachers’ Federation, the Centrale des Syndicats du Quebec and the Surrey Teachers’ Association.
In Colombia almost 700 rights defenders and over 135 former FARC members have been assassinated since January 2016. Those killed include community leaders, teachers, trade unionists, representatives of victims and survivors groups, and water and forest defenders.On July 26, 2019 CoDev and our Canadian partners joined thousands around the world to draw attention to the wave of violence against Colombian social leaders, and to call for an end to it.CoDev shares this video of some of the actions that took place across Canada to honour the invaluable work that social leaders and human rights defenders do for life and peace in Colombia.
Vancouver, Canada, July 26, 2019.
CoDevelopment Canada (CoDev) stands in solidarity with our Colombian partners and the many human rights and social organizations mobilizing today to demand an end to the systematic killing of social leaders and human right defenders and the undermining of the 2016 peace accords.
The number of social leaders assassinated has increased every year since the Peace Accords between the Colombian government and the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC). Between January 2016 and May 2019, 681 community leaders and human rights defenders have been assassinated , as well as 135 former guerrillas. Hundreds more are under threat or are politically persecuted.
The majority of these crimes take place in territories where indigenous and afro-Colombian communities resist state-supported displacement for mining and oil projects and the expansion of agro-industries, as well as the illegal drug trade. Those killed played important roles defending their communities’ territorial rights, denouncing government corruption, or opposing illegal armed groups and illegal economies. They include community leaders involved in land restitution processes, teachers, trade unionists, representatives of victims and survivors’ groups, and water and forest defenders.
The Final Peace Accords were signed in November 2016, but President Ivan Duque’s administration has resisted their full implementation, attempting to dismantle the Special Jurisdiction for Peace, a transitional system to guarantee justice for the victims of mass atrocities and other human rights violations. Under Duque, Colombia has become even more militarized, with the increased use of soldiers to surveil social leaders and communities, and a suspension of the peace process between the government and the National Liberation Army (ELN, Colombia’s other guerrilla movement).
CoDev, joins human rights and social movements in Colombia and around the world to call on Colombian authorities to:
Protect the life and integrity of social leaders and human rights defenders, and investigate and bring to justice those responsible for their killings.
Respect and fully implement the 2016 Peace Accords, including the Special Jurisdiction for Peace to guarantee the right to Truth, Justice, Reparation, and Non-repetition.
From Canada, we send our support and our commitment to continue to accompany our Colombian partners in their struggle to defend the human, social and environmental rights of their communities, and to call our own government to denounce the human rights violations in Colombia and support the full implementation of the 2016 Peace Accords.
In 2017, social organizations launched a remarkable three-week civic strike that forced the Colombian government to negotiate solutions to the city’s pressing social and human rights crisis. Residents literally shut down Colombia’s most important trade route. Many, many activists were called upon to organize and participate in this momentous event with remarkable success.
The strike won important concessions from the 3 levels government to improve community infrastructure and the collective rights and safety of the inhabitants. Yet threats against the community leaders continue to grow exponentially as plans to expand and modernize the port continue. While the Colombian government signed peace agreements in the autumn of 2017, violence connected to large landowners and corporate economic interests remain active throughout the country.
CoDev was pleased (along with other organizations listed below), to host a high level delegation of three of those Colombian social leaders as they toured Canada from October 25 to November 9, 2018. These leaders represent the Buenaventura Civic Strike Committee in Colombia’s principal Pacific port city. Members of the delegation included:
As part of the tour, CoDev sponsored an International Solidarity Committee Conference. This conference brought together many of our union partner IS Committee representatives for a memorable day of sharing and learning about not just the historic civic strike in Colombia, but how activists in Canada can learn from our brothers and sisters in Latin America and from each other. Workshops included such topics as: Creative Ways to Engage Members (union) in International Solidarity, Dealing with Divisive Issues in International Solidarity and Community/Labour Alliances to Protect Public Services.Andrea Duncan, a member of the BC GEU International Solidarity Committee put it best when she said, “Labour’s battles and human rights have absolutely no borders.” This was a sentiment echoed widely throughout the day.For more information about International Solidarity and how CoDev can provide you and/or your organization with learning opportunities, please contact CoDevelopment Canada at: codev@codev,org or call 604.708.1495.To read more about the Buenaventura Strike Committee and its historic work, read: https://bit.ly/2J9SvTw. You can also listen to a radio interview with Maria Miyela Riascos on Radio Canada Internationale here: https://bit.ly/2PobU9w(NOTE: The delegation was organized by Co-Development Canada and the Colombia Frontlines Initiative (includes: Public Service Alliance of Canada, Canadian Union of Postal Workers and the Canadian Union of Public Employees)
