Lanzamiento de la Conmemoración del 12 de Febrero, Día de la Mano Roja

¡PARE! NO MÁS USO Y RECLUTAMIENTO DE NIÑOS, NIÑAS Y ADOLESCENTES EN LA GUERRA

Bogotá, 7 de febrero de 2013. El Servicio Jesuita a Refugiados (SJR) en Colombia lanza este año las actividades de conmemoración del 12 de febrero, Día de la Mano Roja, con el propósito de manifestar rechazo al reclutamiento y uso de niños, niñas y adolescentes en las guerras y conflictos armados.

Según Naciones Unidas, hay más de 250.000 niños y niñas (cifra de 2007) que están siendo utilizados como soldados, en países como Afganistán, Uganda, Iraq, Israel, Somalia y Colombia.

A pesar de las distintas luchas y campañas que se vienen realizando cada año contra la vinculación de menores a conflictos armados, ejércitos oficiales e ilegales continúan reclutando niños y niñas en sus filas, tanto de manera forzada como voluntaria, obligándolos a realizar tareas peligrosas que vulneran sus derechos fundamentales como vivienda, salud, educación, recreación, etc., y ocasionando en ellos y ellas traumas trascendentales en su desarrollo emocional, psicológico y de relaciones interpersonales entre otras.

Ecuador

In Esmeraldas, Ecuador to meet with SJR Ecuador staff and visit with refugees who fled the violence of Colombia for refuge in Ecuador.

Accompanying the Returned

Heading up the Rio Calima Thursday morning with @SJRCOLUMBIA and @SJRLAC to visit returned communities.

The two AfroColombian communities and a community of indigenous people fled when armed groups, part of Colombia’s 50-year conflict, moved into their lands.

Read more about the visit soon on jrsusa.org

Buenaventura

Meetings today with staff of Jesuit Refugee Service Colombia and the UN to discuss internal displacement in the Pacific regions of Colombia.

Lake Calima

In the Andean foothills on the road to Buenaventura…

Jesuit Refugee Service accompanies displaced residents of Soacha

Soacha is a city of one million people located directly south of Colombia’s capital of Bogota. More than 30,000 people in Soacha are officially classified as displaced, but the actual number is likely much higher. The process of registering as ‘displaced’ is laborious, and many wind up registering in Bogota while still living in Soacha.

Soacha, Colombia.

Jesuit Refugee Service Colombia serves the people of Soacha by advocating for better access to education and health care, advising and accompanying them in their quest for better government representation, and by providing training in sustainable farming.

Read more and see more photos and videos from Colombia in the coming weeks on the Jesuit Refugee Service/USA website.

Listen to the audio right now by clicking here.

Pope Benedict XVI prays for “reign of peace” in Colombia

(VATICAN CITY) April 17, 2011 (VIS) – At the end of the celebration of the solemnity of Palm Sunday and the Lord’s Passion, the Holy Father prayed the Angelus with the faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square. Before the Marian prayer the Pope addressed those present in various languages, exhorting them above all, “to live the celebration of the Lord’s Passion and Glorification in order to achieve the fullness of what these feasts mean and hold”.

“I am particularly speaking to you, beloved youth” he continued in Spanish, “that you accompany me at the World Youth Day that will take place in Madrid this coming August, with the theme of “Rooted and Built in Christ: Firm in the Faith”.

“Today I am also thinking of Colombia”, he continued, “where the Day of Prayer for victims of violence will be held this coming Good Friday. I am spiritually near to this initiative and earnestly urge Colombians to participate in it, at the same time I ask God for those in this beloved nation who have been appallingly stripped of their lives and their possessions. I renew my urgent call to conversion, repentance, and reconciliation. No more violence in Colombia, that peace there reign!”

Colombian court strikes down U.S. defense agreement

Just the Facts reports that late Tuesday,

Colombia’s Constitutional Court, part of its Supreme Court, decided by a 6-3 vote to strike down a defense cooperation agreement that Colombia’s government had signed with the United States in October 2009.

This accord, which gave U.S. military personnel the right to use seven Colombian bases for the next ten years, is suspended until Colombia’s Congress votes to approve it. Article 173 of Colombia’s Constitution requires that the country’s Senate be empowered to “permit the transit of foreign troops through the territory of the Republic.”

Politically, the court’s decision is a blow to both governments because it gives the impression – deserved or no – that the Obama and Uribe administrations sought to do something that violated Colombia’s Constitution. Operationally, however, the defense accord’s suspension will not affect the U.S. presence in Colombia. Not a single U.S. soldier or contractor will have to leave Colombia or alter what he is doing as a result of the Constitutional Court’s decision.

Read the full story here.

INVITACION A PRESENTACION DE LIBRO NIÑEZ Y MIGRACION FORZADA

Estimados amigos y amigas:

Dentro de la actividades conjuntas programadas por los 20 años de la Convención de los Derechos de la Niñez y Adolescencia, el Observatorio de los Derechos de la Niñez y Adolescencia presentarà el dìa jueves 24 de junio a las 11 de la mañana en el Auditorio de Naciones Unidas (Amazonas frente al CC El Jardìn) el libro “NIÑEZ Y MIGRACION FORZADA. Niños en situación de refugio por el conflicto colombiano”.

Comentarán la publicación: Dr. Adrián Bonilla por el Observatorio de los Derechos de la Niñez y Adolescencia, Dra Lorena Escudero, Ministra Secretaría Nacional del Migrante (SENAMI), Señora Cristián Munduate, Representante de UNICEF en el Ecuador y Dra. Patricia Sarzoza, Directora del INFA.

La presencia de ustedes dará mayor realce a este encuentro. El libro será entregado a los asistentes.

Take Action: Support Colombian Internally Displaced Persons

Colombia has one of the highest internally displaced populations in the world.  In 2009 alone, 280,000 civilians were newly displaced in addition to over 4 million already displaced.  Victims of forced displacement leave their homes and families to escape violence, intimidation, and rape from both legal and illegal armed groups.  Vulnerable groups such as Afro-Colombians, indigenous communities and women face the greatest consequences of the armed conflict.

In 2004, the Colombian Constitutional Court declared a State of Unconstitutional Affairs and ordered the Colombian government to address the needs and rights of the displaced population.  Despite the Constitutional Court’s demands, Colombia’s displacement crisis continues and the Colombian government has yet to implement these orders.  The resolution led by Representative Hank Johnson (GA) and 22 other co-sponsors calls on the Government of Colombia to fully implement the Constitutional Court’s orders.

Ms. Sascha Thompson, Rep. Johnson’s aide, stated at a recent WOLA event that “many internally displaced Colombian leaders, who have been brave enough to organize their communities to speak out about their rights and to demand the Colombian authorities to meet its obligations to protect them and restore their lands, have become constant targets of threats against their lives, harassment, additional human rights violations, and extra violence.” These leaders and their families need your help.

Many indigenous groups in Colombia are on the verge of extinction. Afro-Colombians’ livelihoods are threatened by the armed conflict and invasive government policies.  The precarious condition of women is exacerbated by gender based violence.  Vulnerable populations in Colombia are disproportionately affected by the consequences of the armed conflict and their human rights must be protected.
Send a message to your representative asking him/her to co-sponsor House Resolution 1224