Our program has 14 thematic lines to which you can apply. If your profile and needs match what we offer, apply before January 31, 2025. | Laura Zambrano
From Indonesia to Peru: The Experiences of Our Fellows from the Global South
Seven researchers from six countries came to our organization to strengthen their work on transitional justice, gender, peasant rights, extractivism, technology, among others. This exchange strengthens the impact of their organizations and promotes the defense of human rights in their countries of origin.
Por: Dejusticia | January 20, 2025
The call for our next cohort of Global South fellows closes on January 31. If you are a human rights defender from a country in emergency and want to build collaborative networks with Colombia, find out here what was the experience of the last cohort:
While the contexts of Global South countries are not identical and each society faces its own challenges, we live in a region where we share complexities. The programs for victims in Indonesia, gender policies in South Africa, the rights of Peruvian peasants, extractivism in Argentina or digital challenges in Brazil, are issues that could not be addressed in the same way as they are faced, for example, in Colombia; however, the comparison of contexts, the refocusing of strategies and, above all, the amplified echo of a global network of activists and human rights defenders, can pave the way for us to seek, on each of these fronts, justice and social transformation.
It is about building a network to find innovative solutions to common challenges, and that is what we have been promoting at Dejusticia with the Global South Fellows program, which provides the opportunity to collaborate and exchange knowledge in a safe space for activists and human rights defenders working in emergency or high-risk contexts.
Some of the fellows who accompanied us during the second semester of 2024 in this program shared what they have been working on during the last few months, a bit of the context in their country of origin, the work that their organizations carry out, and the progress of the projects they carried out in Dejusticia along with the lines of research that accompanied them.
What is the relationship between Colombia and their countries of origin? What was their experience as fellows and what topics did they work on? How can a program such as the Dejusticia Global South Fellows program become a platform for advocacy for the resolution of conflicts related to human rights? These questions were answered by our fellows.
Mulki Makmun ( Indonesia)
Colombia and Indonesia share transitional justice challenges. Mulki, who works for the organization Asia Justice and Rights (AJAR), approached Dejusticia on reparations policies and the search for the disappeared, applying these lessons to the Southeast Asian context. His work focused on documenting processes, creating manuals and strengthening networks for healing and providing guarantees of non-repetition in East Timor and Myanmar. Inspired by the Colombian context, Mulki said he is interested in replicating effective practices to empower victims and strengthen memory building. The Global South Fellows program, he said, expanded his ability to collaborate with local partners and focus his research. Mulki sees in the Colombian experience a model of resilience and reconciliation that can be useful for his region.
Muyenga Mugerwa-Sekawabe ( South Africa)
South Africa faces extreme inequality, an overflowing refugee and undocumented population and discriminatory laws. Muyenga works from the Legal Resources Centre to guarantee basic rights, such as health and education, challenging laws that affect people from the LGBTI community or who do not have a defined immigration status. At Dejusticia, he explored the functioning of legal systems, concluding that countries in Africa can learn a lot about how the Inter-American System works. He wrote an article on the need to prohibit conversion therapies for LGBTI people that will be published in 2025. Muyenga expressed that the Fellows program has a lot of potential to strengthen regional advocacy by comparing strategies to defend human rights. Inspired by the Latin American experience, he said he would like to see Africa replicate advances in LGBTI self-determination and address the challenge of xenophobia.
Betsy Zavaleta ( Peru)
Peru is facing a social and political crisis marked by environmental conflicts and the criminalization of protest. Betsy is part of the Union of Leaders for Peru, focused on promoting human rights from a pedagogical perspective. At Dejusticia she was able to strengthen her activism by combining research with education, and by developing tools to link advocacy strategies with the context of peasant communities. During her stay in Colombia she developed ideas to make the struggle for justice in rural regions more visible. Betsy pursues the goal of counteracting the stigmatization suffered by Peruvian peasants and promoting alternatives to the impact of extractivism. The Fellows program allowed her to consolidate her experience and design projects to address the challenges in her country, demonstrating how international collaboration can be key to amplify social movements in adverse contexts.
Victoria Fernández Almeida ( Argentina)
In Argentina, Victoria works in the northwest with communities affected by extractivism, promoting research from ANDHES and CONICET. In Dejusticia, she compared cases between Argentina and Colombia, highlighting the similarities in community resistance and the impacts of extractivism in departments such as La Guajira and Antioquia. She was able to advance in the construction of databases and wrote a global blog to make visible local struggles and the lack of access to justice in both regions. With the Fellows program, she said, she was able to strengthen her skills to connect international experiences and advocate for more effective reparations programs. Her work brings into focus how women are leading mobilization processes against extractive projects and how the exchange between countries in the Global South can enrich strategies for the defense of human rights in the face of normative regressions.
Juliana Fonteles ( Brazil)
A consultant for the organization Article 19, Juliana has researched digital rights and social justice in Brazil, a country marked by inequalities and political conflicts. At Dejusticia she worked on issues such as rural connectivity, state surveillance and the implementation of the Escazú Agreement. After approaching the Colombian experience, she developed proposals to strengthen transparency and guarantee rights in vulnerable communities. Juliana has denounced the use of political espionage technologies in Brazil and has promoted community internet networks to improve access to government services in remote areas. The Fellows program, she said, provided her with tools to analyze the impact of technology on human rights, connecting regional and global approaches. Juliana believes that shared learning among the Global South is fundamental to address challenges such as technological exclusion.
Would you like to be part of our Global South Fellows?
If you are a human rights defender in the Global South, work in an emergency or high-risk context, and these exchanges caught your attention, our fellowship program can offer you a space to develop your research. In addition, you can build support networks, exchange experiences and acquire action-research tools in a collaborative environment with our researchers.
Our program has 14 thematic lines to which you can apply. If your profile and needs match what we offer, check here the conditions and apply before January 31, 2025 (11:59 P.M., UTC-05:00). Please note that the scholarship will be for the second semester of 2025.