Tell President Obama to Stand Up for Human Rights in Colombia

Date Issued: June 23, 2009

On Monday, June 29, 2009, President Barack Obama will meet in Washington D.C. with Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, their first official private meeting since President Obama took office. Urge President Obama to place human rights at the top of his agenda with Colombian President Uribe.

While the pending Free Trade Agreement with Colombia is likely to attract most attention, it is vital that President Obama tells President Uribe that respect for human rights in Colombia is essential. 

A new scandal in Colombia reveals the precarious situation of human rights defenders and indicates the poor state of human rights there generally. Colombia's national intelligence agency (DAS) has apparently engaged in widespread illegal wiretaps and surveillance of human rights defenders, and in one case, sent a defender a death threat in the form of a bloody doll, instead of providing protection. Soraya Gutierrez from the Jose Alvear Restrepo Lawyers Collective received the doll with a note, "You have a pretty daughter. Don't sacrifice her."

Demand that President Obama stand up for human rights defenders in Colombia and recognize the importance of the human rights they promote. Take action now to send President Obama an email with five key human rights messages he should raise with President Uribe.

Background

Human Right First Colombia webpage

White House Press Statement on Meeting between President Obama and President Uribe 

Sample Letter:

President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC

Dear President Obama:

I write to urge you to place human rights at the top of the agenda for your meeting with Colombian President Alvaro Uribe on June 29, 2009. It is vital that both privately and publicly you express the importance that the United States places on respect for human rights in Colombia, in particular the U.S. desire to see President Uribe support the work of Colombian human rights defenders.

On October 15, 2008, you stood up for Colombia's labor rights activists by stating, "[t]he history in Colombia right now is that labor leaders have been targeted for assassination on a fairly consistent basis and there have not been prosecutions." I ask that you are similarly forthright during your meeting with President Uribe. Pressure from the United States has positively impacted the human rights situation in Colombia and your continued engagement will have tangible results on the ground.

I respectfully urge you to raise the following issues with President Uribe:

1. Delay Free Trade Agreement until Labor Rights Activists are Protected

I urge you to tell President Uribe that your administration's position on the Free Trade Agreement will depend on progress in stopping government harassment against trade unionists, as well as holding perpetrators accountable for murders of labor rights activists. For free trade to benefit workers, their labor leaders must also be free to speak out without fear of reprisal. Trade union leaders are assassinated at alarming rates in Colombia and President Uribe's administration has incited violence against them by repeatedly labeling them violent guerrillas.

2. End Harassment of Human Rights Defenders

I urge you to request that President Uribe stop both his dangerous and false rhetoric against Colombian human rights defenders and his widespread baseless prosecutions of activists as guerrillas. I also ask that you publicly recognize that civil society's efforts to deal with past atrocities and new human rights violations strengthen democracy and the rule of law. President Uribe and members of his government regularly label non-violent human rights activists as terrorists, encouraging harassment against them such as death threats and trumped-up criminal charges accusing them of supporting violent guerrillas.

3. Stop Illegal Surveillance and Wiretapping

I urge you to seek a comprehensive investigation into the growing scandal in Colombia demonstrating that the national intelligence agency (DAS) engaged in widespread wiretaps and surveillance of Supreme Court judges, journalists, opposition members and human rights defenders. In addition to illegal wiretapping, official documents obtained by the Attorney-General's office reportedly prove that intelligence officials, who were charged with protecting human rights defenders, actually sent the defenders death threats. I understand that the documents also demonstrate that intelligence officials engaged in "intelligence offensives" designed to fabricate information about defenders for use in specious criminal investigations.

4. End Extrajudicial Executions

I urge you to stress the importance of ending extrajudicial executions by Colombian security forces, and fully investigating and prosecuting those responsible. The UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions recently stated that extrajudicial executions by the Colombian army constitute "cold-blooded, premeditated murder of innocent civilians for profit" that are "more or less systematic" and have not been sufficiently investigated.

5. Obtain the Truth from Extradited Paramilitary Leaders

I urge you to formulate a plan with President Uribe to provide incentives for extradited paramilitary leaders to tell the truth about the serious human rights violations they committed. These paramilitary leaders are being prosecuted in the United States for drug trafficking crimes. Meanwhile, the victims of their widespread mass atrocities are in peril of losing the opportunity to discover the truth about those crimes; a truth that is vital to aid Colombia's reconciliation from decades of brutal armed conflict. The US government has repeatedly stated that it is committed to helping victims seek the truth about the crimes committed by the extradited paramilitaries.

I am confident that by raising these topics with President Uribe you will not only enhance the rule of law and respect for human rights in Colombia, but also strengthen U.S. security interests.