myMADRE

New Report Released on Internally Displaced Peoples

The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) just released a new report outlining the trends of internal displacement worldwide.

As of December 2010, the IDMC calculated a staggering 27.5 million people displaced by conflict or violence. This figure represents an increase of approximately 400,000 people since 2009.

Colombia, Sudan and Iraq--all countries in which MADRE works--are identified as the three countries with the highest numbers of internally displaced persons, with numbers in the millions. This means millions of people that are at increased risk of discrimination, lack of physical security, violations of housing, land and property rights and other violations of their human rights.

For more information on MADRE programs in areas facing displacement crises, click on the links below:

• Colombia: Building a Culture of Peace
• Colombia: Protecting Children of War
• Iraq: An Underground Railroad for Iraqi Women
• Iraq: Art Action for Peace
• Sudan: Women Farmers Unite

To read the IDMC's report in full, click here.

Statement by the Colombia Support Network on the US-Colombia Trade Agreement

The following is a statement delivered by Colombia Support Network (CSN) president John I. Laun at their recent annual national meeting, regarding the stalled Free Trade Agreement between the United States and Colombia:

The proposed Colombia-U.S. “Free Trade Agreement” (FTA), if passed by the U.S. Congress and implemented by the two countries, will have several negative effects upon Colombia. Among these are the following: 

1. The Colombian government has failed to provide adequate protection for unionized workers and their leaders. While President Obama expressed concern about the large number of union workers being murdered in Colombia—a large number of them by paramilitaries hired by U.S.-based companies, such as Drummond Coal and Chiquita Brands---insufficient steps have been taken to reduce these killings, which continue unabated. And very few murders of union members result in convictions. Without a strong commitment to ending this union-busting-through-murder phenomenon and impunity for these crimes, violence will continue to threaten workers seeking to protect themselves and their employment from employers’ repressive actions. And the U.S. should press Colombia to outlaw a procedure permitting Colombian employers to sponsor “cooperatives” as an alternative to labor unions. These “cooperatives” are associations which eliminate a direct employment relationship between the workers and the employer, who is then able to avoid providing benefits to the workers and whose wage payments to them are often scandalously low.
2. Colombian campesinos, small-scale farmers with very limited economic resources, will suffer the loss of their traditional markets. Subsidized food crops from the United States will undercut prices in Colombia for such products, leaving the campesinos with nowhere to market their products, such as corn, rice and other staple products. This will increase poverty in rural areas, already a very serious concern, since hundreds of thousands of campesinos were forced off their lands during the Presidential terms of Alvaro Uribe Velez from 2002-2010. Colombia has some 4 million internally displaced persons, and the FTA will only add to this problem.
3. Some larger Colombian agricultural producers, such as those of cotton and sugar cane, may find imports from the U.S., subsidized by the U.S. government, threatening their markets, for example for cotton and sugar.
4. Colombian manufacturing businesses will face increased competition from the entry of U. S. manufacturing concerns into the Colombian market on a preferential basis. This combined with intellectual property protections allowed to the U.S. companies will likely force some Colombian businesses to close. For example, Colombian pharmaceutical manufacturers may find it impossible to compete and to market their products successfully.
5. Indigenous peoples in Colombia are very concerned that intellectual property provisions relating to patent rights may have the effect of cutting off their access to traditional medicines, a fundamentally important part of their culture.
6. Preference for products produced in the United States may result in the decline and disappearance of traditional Colombian products. Thus favorable treatment for wheat may undermine local growing of quinoa and other traditional cereal crops.
7. As products from the U.S. take market share from local Colombian products, the advertisements for such products will become ever more pervasive, leaving native Colombian culture and mores ever more difficult to preserve.

                                                                        John I. Laun,
                                                                        President CSN
                                                                        March 30, 2011

To learn more about the Colombia Free Trade Agreement, click here.

Celebrating 100 Years of International Women's Day: Escaping the Life of a Child Soldier in Colombia

Women have come a long way since the first International Women's Day was celebrated 100 years ago--and our work continues. This International Women's Day, myMADRE is sharing stories from our partners. These stories serve to illuminate the struggles women and girls continue to face around the globe. But they also demonstrate the strength and innovation women display in combating these obstacles.

The following story is from a young woman named Marta, who was forced to join a paramilitary group in Colombia when she was only 11 years old. MADRE's partner organization in Colombia, Taller de Vida, has aided her in escaping a life of violence.

“We never experienced a childhood,” said Marta, who was kidnapped and trained to fight for a paramilitary group in Colombia when she was 11. “We exchanged our dolls for rifles, our games for combat.” Marta was eventually released onto the streets of Bogotá but she could barely read and was haunted by the killings she had been forced to commit.

Marta found MADRE’s partner organization, Taller de Vida. Today she helps other young people heal from the wounds of war and build real alternatives to lives of violence. “Taller de Vida gave me una nueva vida (a new life),” said Marta. The organization provides trauma counseling and remedial education to help children who have been displaced catch up on their schooling, adjust to life in the city, and defend their human rights.

Taller de Vida also offers after-school sports, art, and theater programs to help young people develop their artistic talents and learn to express themselves through acting, dance, writing and painting. These programs help young people who have experienced enduring trauma from the armed conflict envision—and work to create—a more peaceful world. Through art, the youth at Taller de Vida are able to share past experiences and build a network of support for their future.

To learn more about MADRE's program in Colombia, and how your support helps girls like Marta, click here.

Obama Administration Chooses to Stand with Militaries That Expoit Child Soldiers

Last week, we learned that the Obama administration had made the appalling decision to subvert a rule designed to prevent US funding from supporting militaries that use child soldiers.  Immediately, we saw the impact that this would have on communities worldwide, including those of our sister organizations, that are grappling with this human rights violation. 

To denounce this policy move, I wrote this letter to the editor to the Washington Post:

This week, the Obama administration had a choice: Stand with children exploited as soldiers or with the militaries guilty of exploiting them ["Obama grants waiver that allows U.S. aid to continue to four countries using child soldiers," news story, Oct. 28]. It opted for the latter.

Despite claims to be putting the four offending countries "on notice," the decision to waive a cut-off of military aid has exactly the opposite effect. The United States has sent a clear message to Yemen, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Chad that they run no serious risk of sanctions. Other governments have also gotten the message.

Take Colombia, the staunchest of U.S. allies in South America. Recently, we conducted dozens of interviews with former Colombian child soldiers, including some used as spies by the military. They told us of their long struggle to overcome the trauma of a childhood abruptly ended as they were forced into a life of violence and combat. Thanks to the waiver, the Colombian government now has even less reason to end this human rights violation.

Unless the administration reverses its position, U.S. taxpayers will continue to foot the bill for militaries that turn children into killers. 

UN Updates on Human Rights Violations against Indigenous Peoples in Colombia

Indigenous Peoples in Colombia continue to suffer violent attacks as a result of the ongoing conflict, and last year, the Awa peoples faced two massacres that took the lives of unarmed families.

In July 2009, in the midst of this violence, the UN Special Rapporteur on Indigenous Peoples traveled to Colombia to meet with Indigenous leaders and to shed a light on human rights abuses.  As the days of his visit approached, MADRE supported the work of La Organización Nacional Indígena de Colombia (ONIC), a leading Indigenous Peoples' rights organization in Colombia, to gather testimonies.  We also helped to ensure that the voices of a group of Indigenous women would be heard by the Special Rapporteur, facilitating their travel to the capital.

Recently, we received an update.  September's edition of the newsletter of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues shared some disturbing news.  In July 2010, representatives of the Permanent Forum visited Colombia for a follow-up investigation on the conditions for Indigenous Peoples and determined that it was "serious, critical and deeply worrisome."  Indigenous Peoples are still confronting persistent human rights abuses that include murder, kidnapping, displacement, forced recruitment and other threats.  The investigation by the Forum also uncovered extreme abuses against women, including sexual violence.

Read the rest of the "Message Stick," the Permanent Forum newsletter, here.

MADRE's 'Born into War', Child Soldiers Photo Exhibit

Wednesday night saw MADRE host the successful ‘Born into War’ event: An Exhibit of Photos and Drawings by Former Child Soldiers in Colombia and Uganda.

Held at the great Salt Space venue, an impressive turnout of both old and new followers of MADRE arrived to show their support and interest for the event. In addition to enjoying an evening of refreshments, an array of photos and paintings by former child soldiers were on display to view and admire. The photos were the results of the invaluable programs being run by MADRE’s sister organizations in Colombia.

Taller de Vida helps former child soldiers express themselves through art therapy. The pictures held a mixture of stories and meanings behind them; while some represented and explained the photographer’s past or their emotions and feelings associated with their time as a child soldier, others depicted their hopes and the dreams for the future.

The evening was designed to highlight how years of war in these regions have had terrible and devastating consequences for the women and children caught up in the conflict. Lisa Davis, MADRE’s Human Rights Advocacy Director spoke of her recent trip to Geneva where she presented a report, written in conjunction with a coalition of Colombian human rights organizations, to the UN Human Rights Committee. 

The findings of the report demonstrated that despite claims from the Colombian government, serious violations of women and children’s rights continue as a result of government policies and the years of conflict. 

Additionally, Anna Safir, a previous MADRE intern who now works at the UN, gave a special presentation detailing her personal encounter with Ugandan children. She shared their harrowing experiences, many of which involved stories of being forced to kill friends, family or other children, but more importantly emphasized how these children can now hope and plan for a better future. 

Throughout the event a silent auction took place, and all of the photographs were sold by the end of the night! The proceeds will benefit MADRE’s work to provide the former child soldiers with the support they need to create alternatives to a life of violence.

 

Video: Born into War - Child Soldiers in Colombia

Social Art Documentaries Responding to Conflict in Colombia and Peru

“This is a social art documentary project,” stated Miguel Macias, a MADRE volunteer and also an independent radio and video producer, sound designer, and musician based in Los Angeles. Miguel has worked with MADRE sister organizations many times over the years. Miguel created a radio documentary through CHIRAPAQ on the role that memory played in the 2004 presidential elections in Peru, twelve years after two decades of violent internal strife.

In 2006, Miguel volunteered through MADRE to teach youth from Taller de Vida affected by 40 years of armed conflict in Colombia how to use professional digital cameras and video editing systems to tell their stories. In 2009, Miguel returned to Colombia to teach students about multimedia production and journalism that could be published on the Youth Radio/Youth Media International Website.

Through these projects, Miguel realized the importance of capturing the memories of participants in ways that they wanted them to be presented, not in the ways that outsiders favored. Miguel reflected on his work with the Colombian youth, saying “it became apparent that the way they perceived these dramatic experiences was not as traumatic or disturbing but rather as a norm.” In Peru, “the memory of the atrocities of this conflict lived in the minds of the elderly who lived in these regions. I thought that those memories should be captured by someone.” He saw a way to connect the memories of the Colombian youth and the elderly Indigenous Peruvians through a video documentary research project. In order to avoid the possibility of diluting the messages of the participants, Miguel is advocating educational cross-pollination.

Starting this summer, the Colombian youth and Peruvian elders will educate each other via video and digital recordings, creating questions for the other group to answer, with Miguel acting as a witness, facilitator, and editor. “MADRE has been very supportive when it comes to me going to these places, and in trying to organize workshops and teach about how to use media to the non-youth,” Miguel said.  Towards the end of the project, Miguel hopes to organize a meeting between the Peruvian elders and Colombian youth. The final result would be a video documentary that records cross-generational, trans-national memories of conflict with participants who were active agents in the research and editing processes.

Using International Law to Wage Peace in Colombia

From the website, MADRE Talking Points: Using International Law to Wage Peace in Colombia.

In recent decades, human rights advocates have won passage of a system of international human rights treaties, helping to address a wide range of social justice concerns.  More and more, local activists are devising ways to use these international standards to make real change at home.

Each major international human rights treaty has a corresponding “treaty body” or committee responsible for monitoring whether its members are fulfilling their obligations.  One of these important treaties is the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which guarantees such rights as the right to life, the right to be free from torture and the right to protection from unlawful imprisonment.  The treaty body for the ICCPR is the Human Rights Committee, and as a member state, Colombia must regularly defend its record before that committee.

In July 2010, women human rights advocates will have the opportunity to participate in that international review of Colombia’s record.  The people of Colombia have faced decades of armed conflict and rampant human rights violations.  MADRE has joined with our partner organizations in Colombia to submit a report to the Human Rights Committee that gives voice to those lived experiences.

The sections below outline the evidence that we have gathered to challenge any attempt to diminish the severity of the human rights crises in Colombia.  We call on the Human Rights Committee to respect the calls of Colombian women human rights advocates and to demand concrete action from the Colombian government.

Read the rest here.

The Role of the US in Colombia's Conflict

We just released a public education resource on the war in Colombia called "MADRE Talking Points: The Role of the US in Colombia's Conflict."  It gives a broad overview of human rights issues in Colombia and how US policy has impacted people's lives in Colombia.  An excerpt is below.

The Conflict in a Nutshell

• For over 40 years, Colombians have endured an armed conflict over their country’s highly concentrated sources of natural wealth, especially land.
• In the mid-1960s, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) arose as a peasant movement demanding land redistribution and social reform from the government.
• Since the 1990s, the conflict has been a three-way war: the FARC is battling the government; the government is fighting to eliminate the FARC; and brutal paramilitary groups function symbiotically with the government and Army to protect the interests of powerful elites.
• Instead of battling one another directly, Colombia’s armed groups usually attack civilians suspected of siding with their enemy. The main victims of the conflict are women and families, hundreds of thousands of whom have been assaulted, displaced from their homes or killed.

Read the rest here.