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US and Colombian Groups Call Against Human Rights Certification
The Fellowship of Reconciliation and eighteen other Colombian and US Human Rights groups, issued a call today to the US Government not to certify Colombia as meeting the human rights conditions required to receive U.S. military assistance.
Earth is Our Common Home: The U.N. Desert Decade
God created lands filled with water as a place for man to live; and the desert so that he can discover his soul.
The Choir Praises the Dumping of the Bases Agreement
A couple weeks after the ruling declaring invalid the US-Colombia military bases agreement, as the dust settles, politicians and analysts are giving kudos to the Constitutional Court ruling saying that it was for the better. Most of those voices come from former supporters of the deal —including liberal party presidential candidate, Rafael Pardo— can be explained largely by the strong anti Chavez sentiment that saw the bases agreement as a strong deterrent tool against Venezuela.
Protest Control as Disaster Relief?
The U.S. military likes to promote the fact that its missions serve humanitarian aims – disaster relief, digging wells, providing medical services in poor rural areas of the world. But a U.S.
Colombian High Court Throws Out U.S.-Colombia Military Bases Deal
Colombia’s Constitutional Court ruled invalid the agreement signed last October allowing the United States to use at least seven military bases in Colombia.
Monument to Impunity: Medellin Judge Acquits Officers Involved in Massacre
Disregarding recent Supreme Court precedents on command responsibility, a judge in Medellin acquitted 10 officers investigated for the February 2005 massacre in which Peace Community members, including 3 children were brutally murdered. The ruling was released August 6th. (1)
John Swomley, FOR leader, dies at 95
The Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) has just been notified of the death of John M. Swomley, a national leader in the 20th century in the struggles for ending war and supporting liberation movements. Swomley, a theologian and activist whose peacemaking legacy is generally under-recognized, died on August 16, 2010, in Kansas City, Missouri at age 95 after living with Alzheimer’s for several years.
Swomley served as FOR’s executive secretary (now titled executive director) from 1953 to 1960, and was a passionate advocate for pacifism and civil rights through religiously-based principles. He was among the community of FOR leaders and colleagues who helped shape the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s understandings of active nonviolence.
Al-Arika Destroyed Again
We have shared messages from Amos Gvirtz of the FOR branch in Shefayim, Israel a few times in the past. His blog entries through “Don’t Say We Don’t Know” are often only a short paragraph.
Expert Panel Uniformly Warns "Do Not Attack Iran"
It was our introduction to the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations which co-hosted a stellar panel of experts on the Middle East for a discussion of the future of Muslim-West relations.
U.S. Aid to Colombia Contravenes Human Rights Intentions
New Report Shows Dramatic Ties to Extrajudicial Killings
A detailed report released today by the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) describes how U.S. funding to the Colombian military has been supporting army units whose members have killed hundreds of civilians.
Read a summary and download the full report.
Drawing on extensive data from the Colombian Attorney General’s and Inspector General’s offices, 20 human rights organizations, the U.S. State Department, and the Colombian military, the report shows that massive military training, equipment and intelligence provided under the rubric of Plan Colombia have abrogated U.S. human rights law and contributed to the killing of thousands of civilians by the Colombian Army.
