Phases 2 to 3 - Colombia

1. The Corporación Colectivo de Comunicaciones will produce two series of six radio programmes and four 15-minute TV-programmes on children's and women's rights. The programmes will be broadcast by the School Radio Corporation of the region (10 counties), which is severely affected by the armed conflict.

Allocated grant: US$ 3,000

Project cancelled

2. The Corporación para el Desarrollo del Oriente – COMPROMISO – organized a meeting on community justice and conflict resolution involving 76 judges, lawyers and conciliators from all cities of the Santander region. The participants discussed how to improve the human rights situation and the rule of law in judicial proceedings. The meeting also provided an opportunity for experience-sharing on best practices in conflict prevention. A representative of the Colombian office of OHCHR attended.

Allocated grant: US$ 3,000

3. The Corporación Escuela de Mujeres Cartagena de Indias – CEMCI – organized theatre performances and 24 workshop sessions, including film shows, targeted at internally displaced children aged 7 to 12 and their parents in the Cartagena de Indias region.

Allocated grant: US$ 3,000

4. The Diocesis de Tibú will organize three workshops, involving civil servants and women, and a workshop for children aged 10 to 14. The applicant will also produce a booklet on human rights issues to be distributed in three schools in Tibú city; 420 persons should benefit directly from these activities.

Allocated grant: US$ 3,000

Project cancelled

5. The Comité Local de Derechos Humanos – CODHUCA – trained 46 internally displaced women head of families in the Guaduas and Carretera regions in basic human rights issues (such as domestic violence, sexual harassment, etc) and the mechanisms for human rights protection, drawing on the main relevant international treaties and Colombian constitutional law. The training sessions took place in four one-day workshops and focused on serving as a catharsis for the women to relate their experiences.

Allocated grant: US$ 3,000

Phase 3

Human Rights Awareness Raising on selected topics

La Corporacion Cultural de la Aldaba in Colombia engaged in a diverse array of art performances designed to highlight and raise youth awareness on problems and prospects of human rights in the community. To this end, pedagogical activities were organized during which theatre performances, concerts and movies were presented. Participants were invited to debate and share their views on what they have learnt about children’s rights, women’s rights and the importance of dialogue, tolerance and freedom of expression. At the end of the exercises, it was considered that artistic language was as key element to build and enhance community cohesion.

The Organización regional Embera Wounaan organized three sensitization workshops on armed conflict and indigenous people’s rights, as well as conflict prevention and conflict resolution, in three different regions negatively impacted by guerilla groups in Colombia. A number of 253 people attended the workshops, among which representatives of local authorities, school teachers and students; they received printed materials on the above mentioned issues. The NGO worked under very difficult conditions.

The Asociación Municipal Mujer Rural de Supia Caldas, organized three capacity-building workshops for 125 local leaders in Colombia. Issues such as the right to development, right to food, human rights protection mechanisms, and women’s rights were discussed during interactive activities. At the end of the workshops, recommendations adopted included: the organization of additional workshops to further raise people’s awareness on human rights; the need to improve the social and economic situation of affected areas; the need to provide assistance to women victims of domestic violence.

Women’s rights, Violence Against Women and Reproductive Rights

The Liga Internacional de Mujeres por la Paz y la Libertad (LIMPAL) in Colombia conducted two training of trainers workshops for 45 selected female leaders of their communities. The discussions focused on violence against women, psychological effects of violence, consequences of armed conflict on women, and ways to struggle against such effects.

The Asociación municipal de Mujeres Salineras (ASOMULSA) organized 9 training workshops for approximately 200 female leaders of communities, focusing on violence against women in Colombia, but also addressing economic and social rights. At the end of the workshop, trainees engaged themselves to duplicate the knowledge they acquired during the workshop, and to train and educate people in their respective communities.

The Comité regional de derechos humanos Joel Sierra, based in Saravena, Colombia organized a series of events in Santo Domingo, a community mainly composed of indigenous peoples. Activities for children included: information workshop on the rights of the child; a ceremony of plantation of trees in memory of the victims of the bombing of the city in 1998; a drawing competition to decorate a wall where the bombing had taken place. A workshop was also organized for the members of the community to deal with ways to prevent and to face violence. These activities encouraged members of the community to present a case before the Constitutional Court of Colombia to obtain reparation after the bombing.

The Association de Mujeres Sembradoras de Vida y Libertad, based in Colombia organized training workshops on women’s rights. Issues addressed during the workshop included: international human rights instruments with a particular focus on the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, overview of the United Nations human rights protection system, participation and role of women in Colombian society, impact of conflict on Colombian women. Participants were also invited to talk about conflict situation in their country and way and means for women organizations to further their action through the strengthening of civil networks.