Climate change reached the world’s highest court: a moment of hope for environmental justice
The International Court of Justice held a series of historic hearings regarding the most pressing problem of our times: climate change. We followed them from The Hague.
Read MoreArgentina must protect social mobilization, not silence it
We express concern about the advance of authoritarianism in Argentina and its consequences for the entire region, and urge Latin American states to speak out in defense of democracy and the human rights of Latin American peoples.
Read MoreA Historic Vote at the CND: Colombia Challenges the Global Drug Control System
Here’s how the battle for a historic resolution unfolded at CND68 in Vienna: Colombia challenged the consensus, faced resistance, and secured the first-ever approval of an independent external review of the international drug control system. This is the report on what happened.
Read MoreEnlaza Strengthening Program: an Opportunity to Strengthen Ourselves as a Civil Society
Faced with the closure of civic space and the advance of authoritarianism, civil society organizations are strengthening their strategies for resistance and sustainability.
Read MoreDictatorship in Peru: Silencing the People’s Voice
Since the coup d’état against President Castillo, the Executive lost the confidence of broad social sectors, which felt that their will expressed at the polls had been violated.
Read MoreUnderstanding Democratic Decline
What explains the rise of these authoritarian populisms? There are no easy answers to that question because this evolution responds to multiple factors.
Read MoreDemocracies in Crisis Bring Challenges for Civil Society
In this newsletter we show how the current decline of democracies goes hand in hand with strategies to weaken civil society. On the other hand, this double crisis can offer the human rights movement an opportunity to rethink and transform ourselves.
Read MoreAre we moving forward or backward? The global debate on drugs at CND68
Drug policy remains at a permanent crossroads. CND68 will determine whether we move towards a human rights and public health approach or remain in prohibitionism. Colombia hopes to maintain its global leadership and push for reform of the system.
Read MoreThe right to protest under threat: the situation in Peru
Peru faces a fractured democracy: violent repression, criminalization of protests, and exclusion of indigenous communities expose historical wounds. The political and social crisis demands justice and urgent structural change.
Read MoreThe search for the disappeared: similar paths miles away
An empty plate speaks louder than words. In Colombia, Timor-Leste, and Indonesia, families refuse to forget their disappeared loved ones, confronting bureaucratic obstacles, institutional failures, and silence, demanding truth, justice, and the answers they are owed.
Read MoreAborto en Ecuador: presentamos un amicus a la Corte Constitucional
Dejusticia intervino ante la Corte Constitucional de Ecuador exponiendo los estándares internacionales y la experiencia de Colombia, que puede servir de ejemplo al vecino país.
Read MoreGanadería y deforestación: la Corte Constitucional ampara el derecho a saber el origen de la carne
La Corte estableció que los particulares están obligados a responder solicitudes de periodistas cuando piden información que contribuye a formar a ciudadanos, hacer control a los diferentes poderes y se considera de interés general para la sociedad.
Read MoreColombia: going back to the original balance of justice
There is a crucial aspect of Colombia’s transitional justice model that is worrying: the current inability of the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) to offer legal security to those who participated in the conflict, including in human rights violations, and have not been identified as among the most responsible. And making sure they also contribute to the satisfaction of the rights of the victims. The JEP must avoid keep moving towards maximalist approaches and go back to the balance in the Peace Agreement.
Read MoreLe pedimos a la Corte que proteja el #DerechoADefenderDerechos de niños y adolescentes
La intervención se da en el marco de un proceso de tutela presentado por un niño quien denunció diversas violaciones a derechos fundamentales y los de sus compañeras perpetradas por su colegio, asociadas con el acceso a la educación y al libre desarrollo de la personalidad de los niños, niñas y adolescentes LGBTIQ+. Para Dejusticia, el colegio también afectó el derecho a defender los derechos humanos de los menores.
Read MoreState intelligence gathering on the internet and social media: the case of Colombia
In this report, we explore this subject by drawing on the “Secret Dossiers” case published in 2020 by Semana magazine, which shows how the Colombian state exploits social media and the internet in order to monitor and profile individuals.
Read MoreMujeres cuidadoras e ingreso mínimo: la Corte Constitucional trazó reglas que las protegen
El caso de 24 mujeres trabajadoras domésticas y migrantes excluidas del Programa Ingreso Solidario (PIS) condujo a un importante fallo que, en adelante, permitirá incluir la particular situación de las mujeres más vulnerables en cualquier ayuda del Estado.
Read MoreAgainst the Current: Human Rights and Climate Justice in the Global South
Against the Current is the result of the collective effort of participants from Dejusticia’s seventh annual Global Action-Research Workshop for Young Human Rights Advocates.
Read MoreThe immigration policy of the United States and its implications in Latin America
The United States has implemented different measures to prevent the entry of migrants and refugees into its territory, including extending its immigration policy to Latin American countries.
Read MoreThe binationality of the Wayuu people: the pending debt of Venezuela and Colombia
The Wayuu arrive in Colombia to seek refuge but crashes with a wall that prevents them from accessing social services and fundamental rights: the Colombian State has not recognized the binationality of the Wayuu people in practice.
Read MoreThe binationality of the Wayuu people: the vision from their cosmology
The Wayuu people have demanded the recognition of their binationality, appealing to the legal and political link that unites them with Colombia and Venezuela, which should translate into a full guarantee of rights and citizenship in both countries.
Read MoreUnder Surveillance: (Mis)use of Technologies in Emergency Responses
Surveillance technologies exacerbated the impacts of Covid-19 emergency measures on civic space by allowing governments to collect fine-grained data about individuals while also working across large scales of information, in a way that has been unprecedented in the history of global pandemics.
Read MoreEnergy transition and human rights in the Global South
The lack of a human rights and energy policy feeds the growing conflict in the territories. It will be hard to end all forms of violence associated with our reliance on fossil fuels at any cost until we decide to retrace our steps by focusing on a just transition.
Read MoreStrategic Litigation Manual: From Theory to Practice, Lessons from Colombia & Lebanon
The manual presents the theory of strategic litigation with examples of real cases brought by Dejusticia and The Legal Agenda. We encourage readers to continue to add to it with each new case they have the opportunity to work on.
Read MoreFiscal policy in the regulation of adult-use cannabis in Colombia
Drugs are not the Devil, but nor are they child’s play. A drug policy that would be respectful of human rights and safeguard public health must lie at an intermediate point between full liberalization and the prohibition currently in place.
Read MoreReimagining the Future of Human Rights
The chapters in this book offer a snapshot of the current state of Human Rights that can help guide our work as activists and researchers.
Read MoreResisting authoritarian tendencies in Latin America
Although the fight against authoritarian tendencies cannot be addressed simply with rights and the people who defend them, we believe that these types of strategies, insofar as they articulate different social sectors, contribute to the deepening of democratic practices.
Read MoreMigration and Decent Work: Challenges for the Global South
This book seeks to strenghten the Human Rights movement through collaboration and the sharing of experiences. The diversity of voices featured here offers a look at migration based on and geared toward the Global South.
Read MoreCivil Resistance Against 21st Century Athoritarianism
Thorugh various narratives, the authors seek to recognize new spaces for struggle —such as political activism— to develop action-research tools in a context of crisis.
Read MoreColombian Democracy in the Streets
Confronted with the violence in the protests, the government and political leaders, as well as social leaders, must first promote the de-escalation, putting human rights at the center of the crisis management.
Read MoreGender discrimination in Football. Building a Toolbox Toward Gender Equity in the Beautiful Game
As the most popular sport worldwide, football (or soccer) may be the poster child for lingering gender disparities in sport.
Read MoreFrom Snow Angels to a Humanitarian Emergency
If States like Texas with ample means to tackle climate change fail to do so, the world as a whole fails given that the planet loses momentum in the collective effort to become more resilient against this phenomenon.
Read MoreData Feast: Enterprises and Personal Data in Latin America
Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple, and Microsoft now possess an ability to reconfigure the behaviour of individuals, clients, and citizens globally. How Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico are responding?
Read MoreDespite Biden’s Victory, Authoritarian Populism Continues to Threaten U.S. Democracy
The Republican Party violates norms which protect democracy more frequently than 85% of other political parties leading democracies around the world. Their lack of commitment to these norms shows that the U.S. political system could be weakened even further if another antidemocratic leader comes to power.
Read MoreInternational 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.
Read MoreEngaging with Big Business: Seeking Accountability for the Human Rights Impacts of Corporate Activities
A course on Business and Human Rights organized by Dejusticia
Read MoreStrategic Litigation: Inward and Outward Learning
Challenges to counter initiatives that aim at weakening human rights systems
Read MoreLearning into the future: our experience with partners
Challenges to counter initiatives that aim at weakening human rights systems
Read MoreLearning how to learn more effectively
Challenges to counter initiatives that aim at weakening human rights systems
Read MoreLearning how to reinvent a partnership
Challenges to counter initiatives that aim at weakening human rights systems
Read MoreLessons for civil society organizations on reforming international Human Rights Systems
Challenges to counter initiatives that aim at weakening human rights systems
Read MoreIndigenous Leaders of the World: Register for the Third Global Indigenous Workshop
The concept of the “living jungle” will be the guide for this workshop, which will occur in December in the territory of the Sarayaku in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Applications open until July 10.
Read More7th Global Action-Research Workshop for Young Human Rights Advocates
The goal of the Workshop is to strengthen the writing and advocacy skills of the participants.
Read MoreBusiness and Human Rights: New responses to ensure Human Rights are guaranteed in corporate activities
A course on Business and Human Rights organized by Dejusticia
Read MoreEighth Global Action-Research Workshop for Young Human Rights Advocates
We invite applications from young professionals from the Global South who are engaged in advocacy around migration
Read MoreColombia must obtain resources to guarantee the right to health of Venezuelan migrants: Constitutional Court
The high court protected the right to health of two undocumented Venezuelans and requested the government to advance as “expeditiously and effectively as possible” towards the full realization of migrants’ right to health, regardless of their immigration status. Dejusticia intervened in the case.
Read MoreDejusticia intervenes in defense of Venezuelan migrants’ right to health
The Constitutional Court invited Dejusticia to present their legal opinion on two cases concerning the right to health of people coming from Venezuela.
Read MoreThe foreign minister’s silence on Colombians imprisoned in Venezuela
More than 60 innocent Colombians sleep in Venezuelan jail cells. Although similar situations have resulted in diplomatic confrontations between Venezuela and countries such as Brazil, in Colombia, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, María Ángela Holguín has kept a low profile.
Read MoreThe long wait of the JEP ahead of the decisions of the Constitutional Court and Congress
In the last six months civil society organizations, such as Dejusticia, have called on both institutions to give free rein to the norms that consolidate the Special Jurisdiction for Peace.
Read MoreCase of indigenous people of Bojayá who could not vote in the plebiscite is about to reach the Court
Through a tutela, a group of Emberá claimed their rights to political participation and equality, because their economic situation and how far they live made it impossible for them to move to endorse the Peace Agreement. Dejusticia, human rights organizations, and indigenous leaders asked the High Court to review the case.
Read MoreThe Constitutional Court has the last word to save the Ciénaga Grande of Santa Marta
The environmental crisis of this ecosystem led fishermen to pursue a legal battle that reached the High Court. In this intervention, we support their demand that environmental authorities take urgent measures to stop the disaster and thus, protect their rights to healthy environment, dignified life and work.
Read MoreGender focus in rural reform is important but insufficient
The Gender-in-Peace Working Group -GPAZ, a group of which Dejusticia is a member, took part in the Public Hearing convened by the Constitutional Court, within the framework of the informal constitutional review of Decree 902 of 2017 “to facilitate the implementation of the Comprehensive Rural Reform contemplated in the Final Land Agreement, specifically the procedure for access and formalization and the Land Fund.”
Read MoreRural reform decree to resolve historic debt with peasants
Terrible conditions in the countryside and lack of access to land are linked to the armed conflict. Point one of the Peace Agreement, which is under study by the Constitutional Court, addresses these issues. Dejusticia presented an intervention supporting most of its content.
Read MoreThe national government geographically isolated Chocó
We intervened to support a tutela that requires the government to pave the
Quibdó-Medellín and Quibdó-Pereira roads: a promise that has historically been unfulfilled.
Prison is not the only sanction in transitional justice mechanisms
César Rodríguez defended that the Comprehensive System of Truth, Justice, Reparation and Guarantees of Non-Repetition is in line with the Constitution. Regarding penalties, he affirmed that international law discusses effective sanctions, not imprisonment.
Read MoreThe reform that gives stability and legal certainty to the Peace Agreement is constitutional
Dejusticia defended the constitutionality of the Legislative Act that gives legal certainty to the Final Agreement, and stressed that its contents respond to fundamental rights and international humanitarian law norms.
Read MoreFirst Global Workshop on Human Rights Strategies for Indigenous Leaders in the Global South
Dejusticia and the Racial Discrimination Watch opens their call to the First Global Workshop on Human Rights Strategies for Indigenous Leaders in the Global South. The workshop will be held in Colombia in December 2017. The call for proposals is open until June 10th.
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