URGENT ACTION

PROTECT HUMAN RIGTHS DEFENDER AT RISK 

TAKE ACTION: WRITE AN APPEAL IN YOUR OWN WORDS OR USE THIS MODEL LETTER
On 24 March, the Santander’s (North) Regional Corporation for the Defence of Human Rights (CREDHOS in Spanish) received a threatening call from a unknown man self-identified as member of the Magdalena Medio Block of the armed group FARC- EP saying “stop making publications and being toadies, CREDHOS´ Staff is a military objective, you have 48 hours to leave Barrancabermeja”. Minutes later the President of CREDHOS received a threatening voice message. We urge authorities to fully guarantee their protection as per their collective reparation plan granted in 2016.

Ramón Rodríguez
Director
 Unit for Attention and Integral Reparation of Victims
Carrera 85 D # 46 a- 65. 
Complejo logístico Sa Cayetano. 
CP 111071.
Bogotá, Colombia 
Email: ramon.rodriguez@unidadvictimas.gov.co

Dear Mr. Ramon Rodríguez,

I am writing to express concern for the safety of the members of The Santander’s Regional Corporation for the Defence of Human Rights (CREDHOS) and organization committed to the defence, promotion, and protection of human rights in the Magdalena medio region since 1987. 

Since September 2020, their members have received at least 5 death threats, the lastest one on 24 March, when unidentified people made a threatening call to their office telling them that CREDHOS´s staff were military target and giving them 48 hours to leave the city. Immediately after, Ivan Antonio Madero Vergel, President of the organization received a voice note with a death thread against him and his family.   

We urge you to fully implement the integral plan of collective reparation (Plan Integral de Reparación Colectiva , PRIC) granted by your office to CREDHOS on 2016 that included the guarantee for full protection for the members of the organization. 

Yours sincerely,

Additional information

The Santander’s Regional Corporation for the Defence of Human Rights (CREDHOS) was founded in 1987 in the city of Barrancabermeja. For more than thirty years, CREDHOS has worked for the defence, promotion and protection of human rights, with its work extending to eight municipalities of the Magdalena Medio region of Colombia (North).  In recent years, addressing socio-environmental conflicts in the region has gained great importance within the organization. CREDHOS defends the communities’ rights to a healthy environment.

Due to their work since their foundation, CREDHOS staff have been threatened, harassed and killed. The latest security incidents faced by CREDHOS staff include:

•	On 10 February 2021, a confidential community source notified CREDHOS that armed group have qualify CREDHOS staff as military objective 
•	On 9 January 2021, a pamphlet signed by people that identify themselves as “The Magdalena Medio Block of the PAFC- EP” was circulating in social networks and instant messaging applications. The pamphlet orders a change in a report released by CREDHOS weeks earlier, that includes an analysis of the dynamic of armed groups and illegal economies in 2 subregions of Colombia: South Bolivar, Northeast of Antioquia  
•	On 24 October 2020, unknown men broke into the apartment of Dr. Ivonne Suarez Pinzón, a member of CREDHOS' Board of Directors who is also the Director of the Oral Memory Archive of Victims of the Internal Armed Conflict (AMOVIUIS) where documents of the cases presented by the organization before the “Special Jurisdiction for Peace” (JEP) were stored.  
•	On 1 September 2020, The Secretary of the Board of Directors of CHEDHOS Abelardo Sanchez,  denounced to the Attorney General's that his house was watched by unknow men the night before. 

In 2016, The unit of Victims and reparation recognized CREDHOS as a subject of collective reparation for the damages caused throughout its existence. The implementation of the measures officially started in March 2019. The Plan contemplates sixteen measures that will be applied at its Barrancabermeja main offices and in the eight municipalities that are impacted by CREDHOS’ work.

PREFERRED LANGUAGE TO ADDRESS TARGET: Spanish

PLEASE TAKE ACTION AS SOON AS POSSIBLE UNTIL: 3 June 2021 
Please check with the Amnesty office in your country if you wish to send appeals after the deadline.

NAME AND PREFFERED PRONOUN: CREDHOS (Them, They).

And copies to:

His Excellency Mr Antonio José Ardila  
Embassy of Colombia 
3 Hans Crescent SW1X 0LN 
020 7589 9177 / 020 7589 5037 
Fax 020 7581 1829 
elondres@cancilleria.gov.co 
http://granbretana.embajada.gov.co