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Apply to our 2023 call for fellowships

The fellowship program is an opportunity for mutual exchange, both so that they can learn about the tools and action-research strategies that we develop in Dejusticia, and so that Dejusticia can learn from their experience and that of their organizations.

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Is Democracy in Brazil at stake?

Following what some consider a coup attempt on January 8, Brazil’s federal powers are taking action against the far right. Will they be able to act decisively without undermining the institutions they defend?

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Are Human Rights Still Effective?

In 2018, we brought together activists from 11 Global South countries to reflect on the importance of human rights in contexts where their effectiveness has been questioned. Their conclusions were compiled in the book Reimagining the Future of Human Rights.

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Protests in Colombia: 650 civil society organizations call for urgent action from IACHR

Given the fragile institutional situation and the seriousness of human rights violations in Colombia, a group of 650 organizations, including Dejusticia, made a joint call to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) asking to energetically condemn the acts of violence and repression of social protest in Colombia and to visit the country to verify…

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International Humanitarian Law and Victims of Child Recruitment as Targets of an Attack

An interpretation of the spirit of IHL, manifested in the principles of military necessity and humanity, as well as the IHRL standards applicable to children, should always prohibit the State from causing excessive death or injury. There is nothing more excessive than killing recruited children —vulnerable, discriminated against, and abandoned by the State— in order to gain a military advantage that could have been achieved through other means.

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We won the Tang Prize!

Dejusticia, a Colombian think-do-tank with 15 years of history, is one of the three organizations in the world awarded this year with the Tang Prize in the Rule of Law category, and the first Latin American laureate in the history of the Tang Prize. This award, delivered biennially since 2014 by the Academia Sinica (Taiwan),…

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INCLO condemns the use of excessive force and the misuse of less-lethal weapons against protesters in the USA

Fourteen members of the International Network of Civil Liberties Organizations (INCLO) express deep concern over the escalation in police responses to protests in the USA over the past week. The protests erupted in response to the killing of George Floyd by police officers in Minneapolis on Monday. INCLO condemns the disproportionate use of force against protesters and calls on police to act in accordance with international standards on the use of force and the management of assemblies

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The Sierra, Displaced

I thought about their story, the people and the situations they must have faced. I honored that by feeling the strength of the land and that the stone had witnessed the same. –Tiokasin, Lakota leader

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Prisons: What Force Can’t Do

“Heavy-handed” policies on crime in many countries in the Americas have not only brought prisons to crises around the continent, but have also failed to reduce crime and recidivism. A more humane penitentiary system, not one of terror, seems to be the solution that our continent needs.

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Ruben

Birds face a variety of risks simply for coexisting with us, because we are a harmful species that grows egotistically and disproportionately.

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My Name is Nobody

As a human being, Alba needs to be able to assume her identity without fear. But if the conditions she experiences persist and the impacts on her health are made invisible, she could end up having this name that no human being should ever have – whether as a survival mechanism or because of her state of marginalization.

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#PeasantsRightsNow

Protecting the rights of peasants and rural workers implies the protection of the fundamental rights guaranteed to the rest of the population, including those in urban areas, given the impact that food production has on the rights to health and a healthy environment.

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Not Pretty in Pink: The Undisclosed Fashions of Farmed Salmon

People often choose cuts with bright pink to reddish hues, under the impression that these are fresher, tastier, and of better quality, thus warranting premium prices. The reality, however, is that “color does not affect these characteristics” and, in the case of farmed salmon, this color is actually manufactured.

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Tongue Twisters of the State

Around 97% of the world’s population speaks approximately 4% of the world’s existing languages. Put differently, around 96% of languages are spoken by about 3% of the global population. Linguistic diversity is being preserved by only a handful of people.

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A Chain of Inequalities

The decline of redistributive agrarian reforms coupled with growing patterns of land concentration and land-grabbing threaten to exacerbate cycles of inequality in the countryside, in the city, and around the world.

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Que Sea Ley

In spite of the Argentine Senate’s decision, this mobilization showed the force of the feminist movement, destabilized conservative sectors, placed abortion at the center of the legislative debate, and, above all, gave a feeling of victory to women.

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The New Routinization of Inhumanity: Small Acts of Staggering Consequence

Perhaps it’s time to state firmly, and insistently, that we see everyone who let themselves be swooped up in machines of inhumanity, and not just the masterminds. And perhaps it’s not too late to call out enough of the small bureaucrats and agents so that they, too, squirm, question and upend the pact of purposeful obtuseness that is required to carry on with systems of oppression designed to harm from a safe distance.

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Going Beyond Nature

What does granting rights to nature really mean? How can the rights of nature be materialized? Which rights? Where does this recognition leave the communities that have traditionally inhabited and helped to conserve certain areas?

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Juan Pedro Lares: The freed prisoner that never was

Juan Pedro Lares, a 24-year old Colombian-Venezuelan young man, who was abducted by a hundred civilian-dressed members of the Venezuelan Intelligence, the National Guard, the police, and armed civilian groups from his family’s home in July of last year was finally set free . But a feeling of injustice still lingers.

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The Yukpas: The Indigenous community who migrated to Colombia in search of rice

One of Colombia’s greatest challenges as it relates to Venezuela’s migration crisis is the ethnic group who came from the neighboring country, having fled the crisis and asking to be recognized as binational citizens. They are some 300 people who decry the death of two of their children, the disappearances of some of their members, and the consistent threats they face.

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A cure to end homicides

Examples from initiatives across Mexico, Colombia and South Africa shed some light on policies that could help reduce the homicide rate across the Global South. Inclusive and holistic policies that include a wide range of societal actors may offer remedies to tackle this crisis.

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25 Voices Against Deforestation

From 17 cities around Colombia, these boys, girls, and young adults between the ages of 7 and 26 were the impetus for the First Lawsuit on Climate Change and the Future Generations of Latin America.

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Increasing Accountability

All Colombian society, especially economic actors who had no connection to the conflict, in an effort to go beyond political differences and as a gesture of solidarity towards the victims, should commit themselves to claim and promote victims’ rights without restrictions.

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The Amazon is burning

Part of the solution lies in achieving greater effective control in the territory and economic incentives aligned with conservation. There is not a reason or actor that is single-handedly responsible for what is happening. And although neither the burning nor deforestation are totally new, today they are out of control.

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The Spirit Level

Shouldn’t the struggle for greater equality be one of the main issues in the electoral debate given that Colombia is one of the most unequal countries in the world?

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Theoretical musings

Perhaps the greatest political challenge that current democracies face is to rescue something of the public and civic virtue that the Greeks discussed, without falling into the different populisms that today offer themselves as saviors of society.

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Do they want to polarize us?

Every day, at all times, through all possible forms of communication, I am told that Colombia is a completely polarized country that only understands extremes. Mu intuition tells me that the political reality of my country is not so simple. I will explain my reasoning.

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A single court?

The problem of “a single court,” proposed by Uribismo, is that in the concrete situation of Colombia, it contributes very little to the solution of the problems of our judicial system, and on the contrary, presents many risks.

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A different campaign

A campaign has just been launched in Medellín. Instead of focusing on the non-compliers, it highlights those who comply. One of the posters of the campaign says “In Medellin, eight out of ten people prefer to dialogue to resolve a conflict, just like you”.

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Increasing accountability

Some economic leaders and columnists have criticized our Increasing Accountability report. Beyond the conclusions that other readers may reach, I believe that a profound and dispassionate reading of the book shows that these criticisms do not have any basis.

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Jury Finds Former Bolivian President and Defense Minister Responsible for Extrajudicial Killings of Indigenous People

Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada, and Carlos Sánchez Berzaín, ordered security forces in Bolivia to use deadly military force against unarmed civilians to suppress popular protests against government policies. In all, security forces slaughtered 58 citizens and injured more than 400, almost all from indigenous Aymara communities.

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Constitutional Court ratifies the right of consumers to access information about sugary drinks’ effects on health

The right of consumers to access the commercial by NGO Educar Consumidores that was censored still stands. The Constitutional Court upheld the T-543 ruling, which had been challenged by the Superintendency of Industry and Commerce. This ruling defends the right of consumers to access information, and the right of the NGO to inform and carry out public health campaigns.

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What justice reforms?

Several presidential candidates propose a justice reform; some have even said that they will hold a Constituent Assembly to achieve it. But beyond that, the candidates could discuss policies that would strengthen access to justice and the system’s legitimacy.

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Praise for the average citizen

In the middle of my task as a voting jury, the following imaginary world occurred to me: what would happen if, instead of selecting the elected politicians to Congress that day, we selected a group of voting juries chosen by lottery?

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Litigation, science, and global warming

With the “science of attribution,” the Supreme Court of Justice has in its hands the strongest scientific basis by which to decide the lawsuit brought by 25 young people in the coming days.

Con la “ciencia de la atribución” la Corte Suprema de Justicia tendrá en sus manos las bases científicas más sólidas para decidir la tutela de los 25 jóvenes en los próximos días.

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#VenezuelaBienvenida

Citizen-led initiatives like #VenezuelaBienvenida (#VenezuelaIsWelcome in English) are reassuring, which calls on the country to get involved in the crisis on the side of human rights, to open channels of conversation, while promoting research and action to avoid the festering social rejection of Venezuelans.

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Women and science

Women’s Day, which was celebrated on March 8th, is a good time to reflect on the stereotypes and discrimination that women continue to face and that must be overcome.

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Colombia: an act of faith?

Despite the fact that we, Colombians, have a certain sentimental nationalism, we lack the capacity to act collectively to undertake large global projects. We must build national cohesion based on a story that unites us within our own diversity.

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Lessons on transparency

Transparency has become central in the new agenda of democracy and the anti-corruption fight. However, by itself, transparency can be useless and become an empty discourse. This is why civil society groups and citizens should promote not only access to information, but also the active use of it.

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Counting farmers

The opportunity to include peasants in the population census is gone, but the tools that the Supreme Court ordered remain. As proposed in the lawsuit filed, farmers have special constitutional protection and a specific cultural identity, distinct from others.

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Elections for Congress and parliamentarism

Many Colombians think, wrongly, that voting for Congress has little importance because the presidential election is the decisive one. A person who has all the virtues to be a great president but who does not have solid majorities in the chambers can hardly have a good government.

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The Supreme Court rules in favor of peasants

Regarding the legal action that 1,770 peasants filed to be included in the census, the court ordered the Government to define the concept of peasant, to include this population in the census, and to advance public policies that ensure their material equality.

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A campaign against hate

A few months before the elections, the political context is being shaken up with hatred towards the LGBTI population. Reacting to hate is not easy, we need irony, the weight of reality and allies on the other side.

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Ciro and us

Ciro Galindo, protagonist of the documentary ‘Ciro y yo’, came to remind me where I come from, so I take his story personally. Ultimately, we are children of the same Colombia.

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