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| Dear Colleague:
We urge you to sign onto the following letter to Colombian President Alvaro Uribe in response to recent comments he made criticizing humanitarian organizations working in Colombia. We believe President Uribe's comments could endanger the lives of U.S. citizens and others working to promote and protect human rights in Colombia, and we hope you will join us in expressing our concern over his comments and support for the valuable work being carried out by international humanitarian workers in Colombia. While many of us hold different views on the appropriate U.S. policy toward Colombia, we can all agree that promoting human rights is a worthy cause. Again, please join us in sending this important message to President Uribe. You may contact Jon Samuels (Schakowsky) at 5-2111 jon.samuels@mail.house.gov or Cindy Buhl (McGovern) at 5-6101 cindy.buhl@mail.house.gov to sign the letter. The deadline for signing this letter is C.O.B. on June 24.
Sincerely, /s/ Jan Schakowsky Member of Congress --------------------------------------------------- June XX, 2004 The Honorable Alvaro Uribe Velez
Dear President Uribe: We are writing to express our serious concerns about recent statements that you made questioning the legitimate work of international human rights organizations in the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó. We are familiar with and support the important work conducted by such organizations as Peace Brigades International and the Fellowship of Reconciliation in protecting and promoting human rights in Colombia. Through their presence, these organizations have helped to protect the rights of civilians in many communities, including San José de Apartadó, which has suffered numerous massacres, forced disappearances and other human rights violations. In recognition of the vulnerability of the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó, the Inter-American Court on Human Rights has on three occasions issued Provisional Measures that call on Colombia to protect the community and "the persons who offer services to the community." On April 15, 2004, the Constitutional Court of Colombia ruled that those Provisional Measures are constitutional and that the Government of Colombia must ensure their compliance. We were troubled by the comments you made on May 27, 2004, when you suggested international organizations are obstructing justice by declaring, "I want to remind the foreigners in San José de Apartadó that in Colombia there is not, nor can there be, impunity for either Colombians or for foreigners. If you come here, come here to help our communities, not to obstruct justice." And you stated, "I repeat my respectful submission to the DAS (Department of Administrative Security) and the Police, that if these people obstruct justice again they should be put in jail. And if it's necessary to deport them, they should be deported."[1] Those hostile remarks lie in stark contrast to the actual conduct of the international organizations present in the community-including the Fellowship of Reconciliation, Navarra Nuevo Futuro, and Peace Brigades International-which abide closely by all Colombian laws, while carrying out their humanitarian missions. Furthermore, we are concerned that on June 2nd, DAS agents and a large contingent of soldiers entered San José de Apartadó to present Peace Brigades International (PBI) volunteers with a written order for a meeting. The stated reason for the meeting was to carry out an "administrative check." However, when the two PBI volunteers arrived at the DAS office they were subjected to interrogation-like questioning and were told to sign a legal document known as a "voluntary deposition" ("version libre") -which is usually the first step in a criminal investigation. Subsequently, PBI met with Vice-President Francisco Santos in an attempt to rectify the declarations made on May 27 and to share its concern over the incidents with the DAS. PBI was accompanied in the meeting by Michael Frühling, the Director of the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights in Colombia Unfortunately, this is not the first time that international organizations working in the Urabá region have been the target of unfounded allegations. On August 21, 2003, the then Commander of the Colombian Armed Forces, General Jorge Enrique Mora, held a press conference in which international organizations, including Peace Brigades International and the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, were accused of turning a blind eye to guerrilla activity of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in another community in Urabá. In response, the Colombian Human Rights Ombudsman stated that this accusation "did not correspond to reality and, on the contrary, could put the community at risk." We are extremely concerned that these types of comments are
calling into question the work of many highly respected international
organizations in the region of Uraba. These comments are all
the more disheartening in that they directly contradict Presidential
Directive 07 Given these concerns, we respectfully ask that you undertake the following actions: * That you, as President of the Republic, retract your comments
and * Call for a reaffirmation in writing by Vice President Santos
of the * Ensure that clear directives are sent to all civilian and
military * Implement the April 15, 2004 decision of the Constitutional
Court, Mr. President, we care very deeply about Colombia and want to help improve the situation in the country for all Colombians. We reject actions that seek to undermine peace, like the bombing attack that occurred on May 22, 2004 in a discotheque in Apartadó, a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law against the civilian population. We strongly believe that the work of international humanitarian organizations like Peace Brigades International and the Fellowship of Reconciliation is critical to the goal of a brighter future for Colombia and a reduction of such violence. Therefore we urge you to publicly make clear your support for the good work these organizations undertake. Thank you for your attention to this matter, and we look forward to hearing from you.
[1] Official website of the President of the Republic of Colombia: www.presidencia.gov.co/sne/2004/27/16272004.htm.
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