PBI Colombia's Annual Report 2021 by PBI Colombia

PBI Colombia Annual Report | August, 2022

Annual report

2021 PBI Colombia

In memoriam

In memory of María Ligia Chaverra, “Enduring Matriarch of Curvaradó” (1942-2021), accompanied by PBI for 20 years.

““I hope that my grandchildren and great-grandchildren will experience a new Colombia, a Colombia at peace.” ”.

It was with deep sadness that PBI received the news of the passing of the much respected Afro-Colombian leader from the Bajo Atrato region, María Ligia Chaverra, who died at the age of 81 on 24 June, 2021. María Ligia was a founder of the Humanitarian Zones of the Curvaradó basin and legal representative of the Community Council for six years. She was accompanied by the Justice and Peace Commission (JyP) since 1999 and, through them, by PBI Colombia. María Ligia was known for her courage and tireless work in defence of her people’s territory, their right to land restitution, and their ethnic rights. María Ligia dedicated her life to bringing attention to the serious risks faced by communities in Bajo Atrato, in the face of illegal operations by palm and banana plantation companies, as well as denouncing crimes such as assassinations, disappearances and forced displacements. Despite having been forcibly displaced 13 times during her lifetime as a result of paramilitary incursions in alliance with the National Army, María Ligia never lost her energy and hope for a better future. Read our last interview with her here.

Annual Rerpotl 2021

PBI Colombia

Index

In Memoriam

Who are we?

Key work areas

Where do we work?

2021: Getting back to walking alongside defenders

In figures

Social unrest amid socio-political violence and humanitarian crises

Physical accompaniment

Advocacy

Raising awareness of the serious and ongoing threats faced by human rights defenders

Support for the reconstruction of social fabric

The long-awaited reunion

The people will never give up!

Resisting in a forgotten territory

Global Humanitarian Agreement to protect lives

Human Resources

Financial report

Donors

Contact: comunicaciones@pbicolombia.net | coin@pbicolombia.net | pbicolombia.org The views and opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of Peace Brigades International, nor those of its funders. ©PBI Colombia – All rights reserved Bogotá, July 2022

Annual Rerpotl 2021

PBI Colombia

Who are we?

Key work areas

eace Brigades International is a non-governmental, non-confessional, and independent international organisation that has been carrying out international observation and accompaniment work in Colombia since 1994.

• Presence of observers and international accompaniment in the field. • Dialogue with Colombian civilian and military authorities, the diplomatic community accredited in Colombia, international organisations and different European and US authorities.

Our mission is to protect the work space of those human rights defenders who face attacks due to their work in the defence and promotion of human rights and social justice.

• Production and distribution of documents and other materials providing information on the accompanied organisations and their protection needs.

PBI works solely at the request of local organisations and does not seek to replace their initiatives, but rather to support them using an integral protection model, which includes:

• Support for the reconstruction of social fabric through the provision of self-protection workshops. •

• Physical accompaniment and international observation in the field. • Political advocacy within and outside Colombia. • Dissemination of information and awareness-raising on the human rights situation. • Facilitation of workshops to strengthen and reconstruct the Colombian social fabric. PBI Colombia works from a prevention and protection mandate, with a differential and inter-sectional approach, placing special attention on the situation of vulnerable groups, including women defenders and peasant, indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities who non-violently resist in their territories. To do so, PBI carries out a differentiated analysis of the risks faced by these groups so that specific protection mechanisms can be developed adapted to their needs.

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PBI Colombia

Where do we work?

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PBI Colombia

PBI’s protection capacity is made stronger and more effective by the international community’s support for human rights work.

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2021: Getting back to walking alongside defenders

n 2021 Colombia continued to feel the effects of the global pandemic of Covid-19. Notable among them was the extreme vulnerability faced by indigenous and ethnic-territorial communities, and by individuals, organisations and communities who defend human rights. The first half of the year was also defined by an increase in violence and human rights abuses within the context of the National Strike, a social protest that rocked the country between April to July, and which was brutally repressed1. In response, PBI Colombia adapted its biosecurity protocols in order to continue accompanying human rights defenders in what remains to be one of the most dangerous countries in the world to defend human rights2. Throughout 2021, the easing of mobility restrictions allowed PBI Colombia to slowly return to physically accompany human rights defenders threatened for their work throughout the country’s different territories. Once the country reopened borders, PBI was able to strengthen its field teams and, in line with PBI’s annual operational plan, was able to fulfill 80% of the requests received from the organisations and communities. The three field teams carried out 229 accompaniments and international observation activities (corresponding to 486 days of presence alongside human rights defenders), as well as 116 visits to the different organisations’ headquarters. In more than 200 separate meetings, the teams maintained regular contact with the organisations in order to monitor and analyse risks and to devise protection strategies. It’s worth highlighting that 49% of the accompaniments were of women human rights defenders, 47% of men and 4% were accompaniments of mixed groups. In 2021 the PBI area to Support the Reconstruction of Social Fabric (ARTS in Spanish) held 40 days of workshops with human rights defence organisations and collectives.The main themes they dealt with were psychosocial support, self-care strategies and digital security, all with a gender-based approach. The decrease in the number of workshops held in

PBI Colombia

comparison to previous years can be explained by the impact of the pandemic: after a long period of time in which the core approach of the ARTS team’s work had been impacted by the need to hold workshops virtually, the area faced the task of renewing face-toface activities. ARTS also held 87 days of workshops within PBI itself, actively supporting the strengthening of team dynamics and helping to mitigate the impacts of the pandemic which had included an increase in staff turnover. PBI’s protection capacity is made stronger and more effective by the international community’s support for human rights work. The work of the visibility area focuses on garnering this support and includes meeting with international organisations, members of the diplomatic corps accredited in Colombia, political institutions and governments. PBI has also maintained its work disseminating information by sending restricted publications to its worldwide support network, and raising awareness of the work of Colombian organisations through its social networks and blog. Faced with the escalating levels of violence3 and the growing trend of murders and threats against social leaders since the signing of the Peace Accord4, the number of accompaniment requests continued to rise with PBI’s accompaniment remaining both relevant and necessary for the accompanied organisations.

1. Human Rights Watch: Colombia: brutalidad policial contra manifestantes, 9 June, 2021. 2. Frontline Defenders: Global Analysis, 23 February, 2022. 3. Fundación Ideas para la Paz: Ni paz ni guerra: inseguridad y violencia en el gobierno de Duque, 14 May, 2022. 4. Indepaz: 5 años del Acuerdo de Paz: Balance en cifras de la violencia en los territorios, 24 November, 2021.

In figures

Advocacy meetings with the international community and institutional bodies in Colombia, Europe and North America:

ARTS Number of days of workshops with organisations

73 99 106 2019

2020

2021

64 68 401 2019: 2020: 2021: (participation: (participation (participation 68,7% women, 76% men, 85% men, 30% men, 24% hombres) 15% hombres) 1,3% not specified) 1. The reduction in the number of external workshops is due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. Additionally, PBI held 87 days of internal capacity building workshops.

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PBI Colombia

Accompaniment, International Observation, Visits to organisational headquarters - Distribution of accompaniment of women and men

- Days present alongside human rights defenders:

735 384 602 2019: (568 + 56 + 111)

2020: (292 + 8 + 84)

2021: (468 + 18 + 116)

- Accompaniment requests accepted:

83,20% 2019

74,86% 2020

79,93%

35,42% 29,85% 40,07% 50,75% 27,48% 19,40% 2019

2020

48,84% 47,44% 3,72% 2021

2021

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PBI Colombia

Social unrest amid socio-political violence and humanitarian crises

021 was a year marked by the fierce crackdown on social protest1 which saw the harassment, criminalisation and persecution of demonstrators and human rights defenders. Likewise, the worsening of the armed conflict resulted in an alarming increase in displacement and forced confinement, and 96 massacres2, in which 335 people were killed. The result of this violence triggered numerous humanitarian crises throughout the Colombian territory. Five years after the signing of the Peace Accords between the FARC-EP and the government of Juan Manuel Santos (only 28% of which has been implemented3), the struggle for territorial control by the illegal armed groups and the lack of a fully integrated state presence has resulted in heightened levels of violence in the territories. As highlighted by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights during the 49th session of the Human Rights Council, 2021 saw an increase in violence, particularly against the indigenous and Afro-descendant population4. In this context, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has reported that at least five armed conflicts continue to exist in Colombia in 20215. Similarly, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) highlighted that forced displacement increased by 181% in 2021 compared to the previous year6. In addition to the departure of around 73,900 people from their territories, particularly in the departments of Chocó, Cauca, Nariño and Norte de Santander, 65,700 people were confined within their communities, 95% of them indigenous and Afrodescendant7. Due to this mounting violence, more than 160 ethnic and rural communities, supported by the Church8, international organisations9 and civil society organisations10, have been calling for Global Humanitarian Agreements11 since March 2020. These agreements would signify the end to hostilities and open up new dialogues which would include the participation of the many armed actors present in

the territories. The communities did not receive a response12 to these requests during 2021, nor did the Colombian government adopt the relevant measures to curb the structural causes of the armed conflict13. In October 2021, President Iván Duque and Defence Minister Diego Molano celebrated what they called the ‘final blow’14 to the paramilitary group Autodefensas Gaitanistas de Colombia (AGC), the largest paramilitary succesor group in the country, following the capture of Dairo Antonio Úsuga, alias ‘Otoniel’, their most senior member. However, until progress is made in the implementation of the National Commission for Security Guarantees (CNGS)15, one of the key elements of the Peace Accords, the entire structure of the group will likely continue to carry out violence in the many departments where they are present. Three years on, there has been little to no effective progress in the elaboration and implementation of a public policy to dismantle the illegal armed groups, a key part of the mandate of the CNGS16. On the contrary, militarisation of the territories continues, which, instead of contributing to improving the security situation, generates additional risks for the civilian population. Under the present government alone, there have been reports of 36 bombings carried out by the security forces, in which 22 minors have been killed17. It is precisely in the most militarised regions where numerous reports of alleged links between members of the security forces and illegal armed actors have been uncovered18.

In recent years, the organisations Front Line Defenders19 and Global Witness20 have consistently ranked Colombia as the country with the highest number of murders of environmental and human rights defenders in the world21. According to data from the Colombian Ombudsman’s Office, 145 human rights defenders murdered22 were murdered in 2021 alone.

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PBI Colombia

For its part, at the end of last year, the Colombian government approved a public policy for the prevention and protection of human rights defenders (Conpes 4063)23. However, unfortunately the policy was drafted without the participation of civil society organisations. According to the Coordination Colombia Europe United States (CCEEU)24, a platform that brings together 281 human rights organisations, this policy does not identify or foresee actions to tackle the structural causes of violence against human rights defenders. Instead, the proposals continue to prioritises military response as a protection measure, ignoring the mechanisms laid out in the Peace Accords. As a result, it has failed to address the escalation of crimes against human rights defenders.

In 2021, Colombia also experienced a brutal crackdown on social protest. On 28 April, thousands of people came out to protest, initially against a proposed tax reform that the government tried to impose on citizens amidst a social crisis which had already been exacerbated by the pandemic. The protests, which were dubbed the National Strike, lasted until 21 July and ended up encompassing wider social discontent over the lack of implementation of the Peace Accord and the persistence of sociopolitical violence in the country. The repression of the protest resulted in 89 homicides, 36 of which were allegedly committed by state agents from the Police and Mobile Anti-Riot Squads (ESMAD)25. According to the Colombian Human Rights Ombudsman’s Office26, 1905 people were injured, 326 human rights defenders attacked and 3365 people detained, many of them arbitrarily. 833 women were victims of police violence and 106 victims of genderbased violence carried out by state agents. These attacks were primarily carried out against women and people of diverse sexual and gender identities and included 23 cases of sexual violence. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) concluded that the use of force by the State had been both excessive and disproportionate, and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human

Rights in Colombia (OHCHR)27 also concluded that there had been unnecessary or disproportionate use of force by police officers, in particular by members of the National Police’s Mobile Anti-Riot Squad (ESMAD). At present, relatives of victims of police abuses who are legitimately pursuing justice for their loved ones, and who are being accompanied by defence organisations, are being followed and subjected to illegal intelligence gathering28, among other acts of aggression.

Furthermore, there has been an alarming increase in the practice of forced disappearances and the misuse of justice against those who demonstrated. This includes an increase in prosecutions against civilians, which have particularly targetted young people from the so-called “Front Lines” who were those who led the protests in different parts of the country. In the wake of repeated appeals from the international community, the government eventually announced reforms to the police force. On 20 July 2021, the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of the Interior presented two bills to Congress, both of which were approved in December29. These reforms have been widely criticised by Colombian organisations, who claim they are insufficient to prevent and punish human rights violations and police abuses30. In particular, they do not include fundamental reforms demanded by civil society, such as the separation of the police force from the Ministry of Defence, the implementation of an external control mechanism for the police, specific reforms to the Mobile AntiRiot Squad (ESMAD) and the abolition of the military criminal justice system. At the time of writing this report in June 2021, there remains a telling lack of progress and results in the criminal and disciplinary investigations against members of the police involved in human rights violations during the protests, unsurprising in a country whose levels of impunity continue to be worryingly high31.

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1. United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights: Lecciones Aprendidas, Paro Nacional Colombia, 2021, Juliette de Rivero, Representante de la Alta Comisionada, 15 December, 2021. 2. Indepaz: Masacres en Colombia durante 2020, 2021 y 2022, 25 May, 2022. 3. Open democracy: Cinco años del Acuerdo de Paz en Colombia: un flagrante incumplimiento, 13 October, 2021. 4. United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights: Declaración de Michelle Bachelet, Alta Comisionada de las Naciones Unidas para los Derechos Humanos, 8 March, 2022. 5. ICRC: El conflicto armado en Colombia: un dolor que no se va, 17 March, 2021. 6. Infoabe: Desplazamiento forzado en Colombia aumentó un 181 % en 2021,14 February, 2022. 7. El Espectador: El desplazamiento forzado aumentó 181 % en 2021 | EL ESPECTADOR, 5 March 2022. 8. El Tiempo: Iglesia pide al Estado actuar ante crisis humanitaria en Chocó y Antioquia, 19 November, 2021. 9. Noticias ONU: El llamado al alto el fuego mundial para ayudar a contener el coronavirus empieza a tener repercusión, 23 March, 2020. 10. Protection International: Organizaciones Internacionales de Sociedad Civil respaldan el llamamiento al Acuerdo Humanitario Global de las Naciones Unidas y el llamado de Misión ONU Colombia por un cese al fuego y piden que se proteja la vida de todas las personas en condición de vulnerabilidad en medio de la pandemia, 3 April, 2020. 11. Comisión de Justicia y Paz: CartAbierta 2 Salud, alimentación, agua URGENTE y respuesta a ACUERDO HUMANITARIO GLOBALCOVID19, 9 April, 2020. 12. Somos Génesis: CartAbierta 36 – A 5 años de otro Acuerdo de Paz, 23 November, 2021. 13. El Tiempo: Asesinato de defensores de DD. HH. subió 18 % frente a 2020, según ONU, 14 January, 2022. 14. BBC: Otoniel: detienen a Dairo Antonio Úsuga, el narcotraficante más buscado de Colombia y jefe del Clan del Golfo, 23 October, 2021. 15. Where delegates from civil society participate alongside the competent state authorities. 16. El Espectador: Acción de cumplimiento contra el Gobierno para que implemente el Acuerdo de Paz, 24 November, 2021. 17. El Espectador: Durante el gobierno Duque han muerto 22 niños y

PBI Colombia

jóvenes en bombardeos: Cepeda, 23 November, 2021. 18. El Espectador: Iglesia católica denuncia vínculos del Estado con paramilitares en Chocó, 25 February, 2022. 19. Frontline Defenders: Global Analysis 2021, 25 February, 2022. 20. DW: Global Witness: Colombia es el país con más asesinatos de ambientalistas, 13 September, 2021. 21. Semana: Colombia, el país más letal para defender derechos humanos: Amnistía Internacional (semana.com) , 20 November, 2021. 22. Defensoría del Pueblo (@DefensoriaCol): tweet, 8 January 2022. 23. CONPES: Política Pública de Garantías y Respeto a la Labor de Defensa de los Derechos Humanos y el Liderazgo Social, 6 December, 2021. 24. CCEEUU (@coeuropa): Tweet, 14 February, 2022. 25. Campaña Defender la Libertad: El sometimiento de la democracia: Un balance del derecho a la protesta social en Colombia en el año 2021, 16 December, 2021. El País: Protestas en Cali: la ONU pide a Colombia que se investigue a los Policías que escoltaron a civiles armados mientras disparaban a manifestantes, 31 May, 2021. 26. Campaña Defender la Libertad: BOLETÍN INFORMATIVO NACIONAL 21:#PARONACIONAL, 22 de julio de 2021. 27. United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights: in Colombia: El Paro Nacional 2021: Lecciones aprendidas para el ejercicio del derecho de reunión pacífica en Colombia , 27 May, 2022. 28. It is worth noting that, to date, no significant progress has been made in the investigations into the multiple scandals surrounding state intelligence operations carried out by the Army and Attorney General’s Office, which were uncovered between 2019 and 2020. 29. Law 2179 of 30 December 2021 “Whereby the category of police patrol officers is created, rules are established related to the special career scheme for uniformed personnel of the national police are, the law of professionalisation for the public police service is strengthened and other provisions are enacted” and Bill No. 033-Senate/219Chamber of 2021 “Whereby the Police Disciplinary Statute is enacted”. 30. Colectivo de Abogados José Alvear Restrepo: Colombia: Brutalidad policial contra manifestantes, 10 June, 2020. 31. Fundación Paz y Reconciliación: La impunidad en Colombia, una realidad alarmante, 15 October, 2019.

“

Coming together, listening to one another, observing, and transforming are words we use daily to talk about the work we do.

”

PBI Colombia field volunteer, December 2021.

Annual Rerpotl 2021

PBI Colombia

Physical accompaniment

Specifically, they closely accompany the Association for the Integral Sustainable Development of the “Perla Amazónica” (Adispa), an organisation that defends human rights and the environment, and whose legal representative is the emblematic leader Jani Silva. Despite the territorial control of the area imposed by armed actors and the constant threats against Adispa and JyP, the two organisations, with the accompaniment of PBI, were able to enter the ZRCPA to carry out their work on three different occasions during the second semester of the year. Jani Silva, who had not been able to return to the territory for a year due to her high level of risk, was able to do so on two of these occasions. In August PBI accompanied JyP in an emergency response to the confrontations and paramilitary incursions on ancestral indigenous and AfroColombian territories in the Litoral San Juan on Colombia’s Pacific coast, where communities were being forcibly displaced1. PBI Colombia accompanied the verification mission at a time when JyP considered that it could not carry out its work without PBI’s presence. We also accompanied the organisation on numerous occasions in the Bajo Atrato region in the second PBI Colombia’s field teams provided physical half of the year, where JyP works on strengthening accompaniment to accompanied human rights communities in the face of the presence of armed organisations on 215 occasions while also actors. contributing indirectly to the protection of Given the extremely serious human rights violations other organisations, social movements and in the Río Chageradó indigenous reservation in the communities in the territories. Jiguamiandó and Curvaradó basins, as well as in the Embera indigenous reservations of Acandí and Unguía, Over the course of 2021, in line with the thematic JyP has indicated that it was only able to enter the focuses that have been prioritised by PBI Colombia, area along with international accompaniment. the following accompaniments are of special note: PBI also highlights the accompaniment provided to 1. Access to and use of land and territory Nomadesc during a humanitarian mission in the In the department of Putumayo, in the south of the department of Buenaventura, specifically on the country, PBI accompanies the Justice and Peace Yurumanguí, Cajambre and Raposo rivers. Commission (JyP). The organisation in turn The mission, which was made up of United Nations accompanies the communities living in the Peasant agencies, Colombian human rights organisations, Reserve Zone “Perla Amazónica” (ZRCPA) in civilian institutions, and international organisations, their defence of their rights and denouncement of verified the situations of confinement and forced environmental damage to their territories. recruitment which have developed in the territory 6% of the defenders accompanied by PBI Colombia feel that their guarantees of protection for the exercise of their work in defence of human rights had further deteriorated in 2021 compared to the previous year. This is largely due to the reconfiguration of illegal armed actors and their increased presence in the territories. Human rights organisations and victims of sociopolitical violence stress the importance of PBI’s physical accompaniment, given that the activities that they carry out are associated with a high level of risk. All of the accompanied organisations surveyed in 2021 agreed that PBI’s presence reduces potential risks and therefore contributes to the success of their human rights defence strategies and activities. Throughout 2021, PBI had a greater capacity to respond to requests for accompaniment than in 2020. This is due to a combination of the arrival of new brigadistas to the field teams and a gradual return to face-to-face activities. Compared to 2020, PBI’s face-to-face accompaniment increased by 62%, a steady recovery of the capacity of the years prior to the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

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following the reconfiguration of various illegal armed actors. It was in these anscestral lands that two emblematic leaders of the Afro-descendant community of the Yurumanguí River, Abencio Caicedo and Edinson Valencia, were forcibly disappeared. The leaders had previously been threatened for their defence of illicit crops substitution, and their opposition to mining and the presence of armed groups. In reaction to the situation, PBI organised an advocacy tour with Berenice Celeita, president of Nomadesc.

As a direct result of this tour, on 31 December the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) took the decision of granting precautionary measures for both leaders2.

Leader Jani Silva has been displaced on numerous occasions due to the extremely high risks that her environmental and human rights defence work exposes her to. Throughout 2021, international campaigns were organised in order to raise her profile and provide her with further protection. Following a year in which she was unable to hold organisational meetings in defence of her territory, in the second half of 2021, Jani Silva was able to return to visit the Peasant Reserve Zone “Perla Amazónica”.

PBI Colombia

Due to the complexity of the situation in the Southwest of Colombia, where there has been a persistent increase in attacks and threats against the communities and their leaders, the accompaniment of PBI Colombia continues to be crucial for Nomadesc:

Despite the many attacks it has subject to, the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó continues to resist in its territory and cultivate the land collectively. PBI regularly accompanies the Peace Community to the rural farming areas where they carry out their communal agricultural work which aims to ensure their food sovereignty. As a result of the serious risks faced by the Community’s Internal Council, members only travel between the different rural settlements with international accompaniment. The capture in October of the top commander of the AGC, Dairo Antonio Úsuga, has not changed the dynamics of the social control wielded in the region by the illegal armed group. This includes the practices of forced recruitment of minors, selective assassinations and threats to social leaders. For these reasons, the Community continues to consider PBI’s accompaniment essential.

2. Business, environment

human

rights

and

the

In 2020, Colombia was the country with the highest number of environmental defenders murdered worldwide, with 64 reported murders3. In 2021, there was a significant rise in attacks against human rights and environmental organisations in the Magdalena Medio region. In particular, the Regional Corporation for the Defence of Human Rights (Credhos) and its allied organisations, the Federation of Artisanal, Environmental and Tourist Fishermen of Santander (Fedepesan) and the Committee for the Defence of Water, Life and Territory of Puerto Wilches (Aguawil) have received death threats, attempts on their lives4, forced displacement and gender-based violence after they denounced irreparable damage to water basins and opposed fracking pilots in the region. PBI accompanied Credhos on a number of occasions in its activities denouncing attacks and accompanying victims who had been targeted for their environmental defence. PBI’s presence on these occasions raised the profile of environmental leaders in the area and increased awareness of the environmental problems affecting fishing communities.

“

PBI accompanied us on the mission until the very end and, for us, this is incredibly important because they were able to observe the serious situation affecting the communities first-hand.They also accompanied when we were setting up the Raposo River humanitarian shelter.

PBI’s accompaniment has also meant that Credhos was able to carry out activities to strengthen and form alliances in the social environmental protection movement.

3. Guarantees of political participation for civil society From the first days of the National Strike which began on 28 April 2021, PBI stood alongside the accompanied organisations in their efforts to guarantee the right to protest, and to verify the human rights violations which were being committed by state agents during the strike5. During this period, PBI accompanied the José Alvear Restrepo Collective (Ccajar), the Committee for Solidarity with Political Prisoners (CSPP), Nomadesc, Dh Colombia, the Nydia Erika Bautista Foundation (Fneb), Credhos, the Social Corporation for Community Advice and Training (Cospacc) and JyP, in different departments of Colombia. In Cali, PBI continuously accompanied Nomadesc for an uninterrupted period of more than a month and a half while they documented cases of arbitrary detention, forced disappearance, police violence, torture, prosecutions, provided legal advice and humanitarian aid, and participated in the protests and in inter-institutional round-tables which had been convoked to provide an urgent emergency response. Nomadesc considered our role of protection and visibility vital within the framework of these activities. In Bogotá, PBI accompanied JyP on numerous occasions to increase the profile of the Portal de las Américas Humanitarian Space. The Portal de las Américas was a centre for artistic and cultural events and press conferences which was the site of innumerable human rights violations committed during the protest, including the excessive use of force by the police, arbitrary detentions, disappearances and sexual abuse.

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”

PBI Colombia

In June, PBI accompanied a visit by representatives from the IACHR to the Humanitarian Space where they collected testimonies of human rights violations committed during the National Strike. PBI also accompanied the CSPP in human rights monitoring and intervention commissions, in the interest of ensuring guarantees for the act of protesting.

These verification commissions are part of the “Defender la Libertad: Asunto de Todos” (Defending Freedom: Everyone’s Business) campaign, a network of social, student, cultural, community and human rights organisations, of which several of the organisations accompanied by PBI are members.

PBI also accompanied CSPP to the National Summit “Building Memory and Dignity” which brought together victims of police violence from all over the country. The participants have carried out important work to promote police reform aiming to prevent human rights violations by the security forces. The CSPP considers that PBI’s accompaniment was necessary to obtain greater visibility and guarantees of protection for protest participants.

Representing the families of victims of police violence puts the organisations’ legal teams at high risk and PBI’s accompaniment has helped to protect them and make their cases more widely known.

4.The fight against impunity Over the course of 2021, PBI accompanied Dh Colombia in multiple virtual court hearings where they were representing the families of victims of police violence. These included the family of Nicolás Neira (a student who was murdered by a member of the ESMAD in Cali on 1 May 20056), Jhonny Silva (a

Univalle student murdered on 22 September 2005), and Angie Baquero and Jaider Fonseca (who were murdered, allegedly by the police, on 9 September 2020, in the Verbenal neighbourhood of Bogotá). In order to secure the full truth, justice and guarantees of non-repetition, Dh Colombia seeks to clarify the criminal responsibility of the intellectual authors responsible be it through action or omission. In the same vein, hearings were accompanied in relation to the massacre that occurred in the Siloé neighbourhood on 3 May 2021, a crime which led to the murder of Kevin Agudelo. JyP and Nomadesc represent the victims in this case. Daniel Prado has continued his work as defence lawyer for the victims in the case of “The 12 Apostles”, the criminal trial in which the main defendant Santiago Uribe Vélez – brother of former president and exsenator Álvaro Uribe Vélez – is accused of allegedly founding this paramilitary group. After being postponed on several occasions, the hearings were finally concluded at the beginning of February 2021. The definitive sentence regarding the responsibility of Santiago Uribe Vélez has been pending since then. PBI Colombia has provided Daniel Prado with comprehensive accompaniment throughout the entire hearing process. According to the lawyer, the presence of PBI has been crucial in order to ensure that there are certain minimum guarantees that have allowed him to continue working on this emblematic case.

In February 2021, the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) published their findings that between 2002 and 2008, 6,402 civilians were victims of extrajudicial executions at the hands of members of the National Army in Colombia.

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PBI Colombia

Four of the organisations accompanied by PBI – Dh Colombia, Cospacc, CSPP and Ccajar – are leading extremely sensitive cases concerning several of the top military commanders implicated in extrajudicial executions. As part of the process, PBI accompanied Dh Colombia, who represents victims of extrajudicial executions, to the hearing held by the JEP in which the retired General of the National Army General Mario Montoya gave his testimony. Dh Colombia understands that this is a case that exposes its members to high risk, in particular their lawyer Germán Romero, who was eventually forced to go into exile from Colombia. The organisation believes that the accompaniment of PBI Colombia has been fundamental to guarantee its protection and legitimise its work internationally. In December 2021, PBI accompanied Ccajar in Bogotá during a cultural event in which several artists repainted the mural “Quién Dio La Orden” (Who Gave The Order) on a prominent wall in Bogotá, near the José María Córdova Military Cadet School. The mural was originally designed by the Campaign for Truth, a coalition of several human rights organizations who work with victims of extrajudicial killings and had been censored following it’s original installation in 2019. One of the commanders who appeared in the original mural, General Marcos Evangelista Pinto Lizarazo, filed a tutela (writ of protection of constitutional rights) with the Constitutional Court in 2019 in which he asked to have the image of the mural removed from social media because, according to him, it violated his rights to “honour and good name”. In November 2021, the Constitutional Court’s ruling T-281/2177 upheld the right to freedom of expression. The Court underlined the fact that victims have the right to extrajudicial truth that contributes to the

construction of historical memory. The ruling also underlined the gravity of the events surrounding the extrajudicial executions, crimes for which a large number of members of the national army are currently under investigation. As part of its fight against impunity, Ccajar continues to work on emblematic cases involving high-ranking Colombian commanders. In one of their most important cases, ex-president Álvaro Uribe Vélez is under investigation for allegations of witness tampering in order to cover up his alleged links with paramilitaries. Reinaldo Villalba Vargas, vice-president of Ccajar, legally represents Senator Iván Cepeda in this process. Cepeda publicly accused Álvaro Uribe of wittness tampering in 2014 in a session of the Congress of the Republic. It is important to remember that in 2020 Álvaro Uribe gave up his seat in the Senate, which led to the process being transferred from the Supreme Court to the ordinary justice system. In 2021, the Prosecutor’s Office sought the preclusion of the case due to the “in-existence of evidence against the accused”. Human rights defender Reinaldo Villalba, who appealed the Prosecutor’s decision, detailed multiple irregularities in the process8, leaving him exposed to threats and at considerable risk. PBI closely monitored the lawyers complicated security situation which was worsened as a result of his participation in this case. The decision on the continuation or end of the investigation process will be taken by the ordinary justice system at some point in 2022. Cospacc’s work to ensure that the crime of enforced disappearance does not go unpunished remains one of its central focuses. In December 2021 Cospacc, alongside the Orlando Fals Borda Collective, presented the report “Resistance to forgetting and impunity” to the JEP9. The report documents 145 cases of forced disappearance in the “Llanos Orientales” (Eastern Plains region) of Colombia, and calls on the JEP to open a macro-case on forced disappearance focusing on the territorial situation of this region, where a number of the crimes are said to be the responsibility of state agents and paramilitary groups.

Journalist Claudia Julieta Duque continues to fight for justice and against impunity for the psychological torture she was subjected to by members of the now defunct DAS (Administrative Department of Security – State Intelligence Agency). PBI accompanied the journalist for years during the hearings before they were suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Following this suspension, Claudia Julieta has condemned the process as re-victimising and decided not to attend any more hearings. At the end of 2021, the Foundation for Press Freedom (FLIP) and Claudia Julieta Duque reported that the National Protection Unit (UNP) had been mass-collecting highly sensitive personal information without the journalist’s consent. To this end, they had used the information from the GPS device of the vehicle she had been assigned as a protection measure. Due to the seriousness of her situation and in order to guarantee her safety, PBI accompanied the journalist on many of her journeys within the city of Bogotá.

5. Building a stable and lasting peace PBI has accompanied various activities in 2021 related to the Peoples’ Intercultural University (UIP). The UIP is an educational and research project that analyses the social, political, economic and armed conflict in Colombia and brings together 34 grassroots organisations from the Southwest of Colombia, as well as welcoming students from other regions of the country. This pedagogical process, led by the organisation Nomadesc, aims to strengthen collective, intercultural and traditional networks and structures in the face of the ongoing escalation of the Colombian conflict. Nomadesc maintains that the accompaniment of this peace project by PBI is fundamental to the protection of its participants. Since October 2020, several human rights organisations such as the Nydia Érika Bautista Foundation (Fneb), the Justice and Peace Commission (JyP), Madres por la Vida, and the Movement of Victims of State Crimes (Movice), among other organisations, have demanded that the JEP grant the San Antonio

Annual Rerpotl 2021

PBI Colombia’s accompaniment during the hearings has increased the profile of Fneb’s work which defends the right to truth and justice, and seeks reparation for the families of the victims of enforced disappearance in Buenaventura.The city is home to an estimated 1,725 disappeared persons according to the JEP’s official estimates10.

estuary precautionary protection measures. These measures would protect the area, located in the port city of Buenaventura, where the human remains of disappeared persons are known to be located. In December 2021, the JEP decreed these precautionary measures for the San Antonio estuary in order to guarantee the rights of the victims of enforced disappearance. To this end, it prohibited any intervention or activities related to civil works at the site for 180 days, with a possibility of extending this order. PBI has also accompanied Credhos and the Association of Small-Scale Farmers of the Cimitarra River Valley (ACVC) over the course of their participation in the Comprehensive System of Truth, Justice, Reparation and Guarantees of NonRepetition (SIVJRNR). PBI accompanied Credhos over several days documenting cases of sexual violence and forced disappearance in the Magdalena Medio region. The information was presented to the JEP as part of a report on the region which was carried out in collaboration with the Humanitarian Action Corporation for Coexistence and Peace in Northeast Antioquia (Cahucopana). PBI’s accompaniment in these spaces served to make the organisations’ work more visible before the SIVJRNR, while also having a strong protection component.Activities were carried out with victims of sexual violence who had not previously participated because of the serious threats they had received. Credhos insists that they would not have been able to carry out these activities without the accompaniment of PBI. Credhos has also been accompanied many times in relation to its work with the Unit for the Search for Disappeared Persons (UBPD). On these occasions, PBI’s accompaniment allowed participants to feel more protected when giving their

PBI Colombia

testimonies and ensured that Credhos’ overland journeys and activities unfolded without any serious security incidents. PBI also accompanied the ACVC at the ceremony to present the report “Nos quisieron acabar” (They wanted to finish us off) to the Truth Commission (CEV). The report documents the attacks on the peasant movement in Magdalena Medio between 1990 and 2010, with a special focus on the role of peasant women who resisted the armed conflict. At the event, which took place in Puerto Matilde (Antioquia) in the presence of the president of the CEV, Francisco de Roux, PBI and other organisations played an important role raising awareness of the report.

1. Codhes: 2021, el año con mayor número de víctimas de desplazamiento en 5 años, 22 December, 2021. 2. CIDH: CIDH otorga medidas cautelares a favor de Abencio Caicedo y Edinsón Valencia García en Colombia (oas.org), 7 January, 2022. 3. The highest figure reported in any country within the last eight years. El Tiempo: Colombia encabeza listado mundial de ambientalistas asesinados, 6 August, 2020. 4. Credhos (@Credhos_Paz): Tweet, 26 March, 2021; Credhos (@ Credhos_Paz): Tweet, 21 January, 2021; El Espectador: Petróleo, paras y amenazas en el Magdalena Medio, 1 March, 2021. 5. See: “¡El Pueblo no se rinde!”, pg. 54 6. El Espectador: Condenan a 17 años de prisión al agente del Esmad que disparó contra Nicolás Neira, 29 April, 2021. 7. PBI Colombia: “¿Quién dio la orden?”: reivindicación firme de Justicia y Verdad, 28 December, 2021. 8. El Colombiano: Caso Uribe: defensa de Cepeda dice que Fiscalía se abstuvo de investigar, 4 October, 2021. 9. El Tiempo: En informe, le piden a la JEP abrir macrocaso sobre la desaparición forzada, 3 December, 2021. 10. El Espectador: JEP ordena protección de estero de Buenaventura donde hay desaparecidos, 17 December, 2021.

In December 2021, PBI accompanied Ccajar in Bogotá during a cultural event in which several artists repainted the mural “Quién Dio La Orden” (Who Gave The Order) on a prominent wall in Bogotá, near the José María Córdova Military Cadet School.

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PBI Colombia

Advocacy

espite the sharp increase in human rights violations, the context of suppression of social protest, the constant humanitarian crises in rural territories and the prolongation of restrictions due to the pandemic, PBI Colombia has managed to ensure that the international community is kept regularly informed of the situations affecting human rights in Colombia. During 2021, multiple virtual advocacy tours were organised, face-to-face briefings were resumed and 78 meetings were conducted in Colombia and abroad allowing the accompanied organisations to connect with PBI Colombia’s support network.

able to make public pronouncements, carry out territorial visits and take direct action regarding the victims of the serious human rights violations and police repression taking place. It is important to emphasise the efforts made by several of the organisations accompanied by PBI during the National Strike to raise awareness of the lack of guarantees for the right to protest, and to highlight their work in the verification, documentation and condemnation of human rights violations within this context. In light of this context, PBI Colombia contributed by facilitating meetings between defenders and the international community, and ensuring that they were updated regularly with quality, accurate information. This ensured that the international community was both kept accurately informed, and were consequently

PBI Colombia also supported Colombian and international organisations and platforms by arranging, for example, the visit of the International Mission #SOSColombia, an independent body that was created to monitor human rights violations committed by state agents in protest situations. PBI also worked to highlight the humanitarian crises that have mainly affected ethnic communities in multiple territories in Colombia. PBI has encouraged high-level pronouncements and urgent appeals for

the protection of human rights defenders and more than 160 ethnic and rural communities. Since March 2020, these communities, accompanied by JyP, have been calling for a Global Humanitarian Agreement by means of 40 public appeals directed at the Government and the different armed groups present in their territories. PBI supported these ceasefire requests whose fulfilment would reduce the intensity of serious human rights violations such as massive forced displacement, enforced disappearances, sexual violence and massacres, among others. PBI also facilitated advocacy actions which led to the Irish Embassy funding the installation of awarenessraising signposting demarcating the limits of the Uradá Jiguamiandó Indigenous Humanitarian Reserve, increasing their protection against illegal armed

PBI arranged a visit by the accompanied organisation Nomadesc together with relatives of victims of police violence to Bogotá where they met with representatives of the embassies of Switzerland, the United States, Norway, Ireland, Great Britain and Canada.

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PBI Colombia

The Humanitarian Reserves or Humanitarian Zones are self-protection measures that rural communities have created in order to protect their lives and physical integrity. In these zones, which are visibly signposted, the carrying of arms or the entry of any armed actor is not permitted, and are a means of avoiding increasing the risk to the civilian population in the midst of the existing conflict.Through the installation of the signs around the Uradá Jiguamiandó Indigenous Humanitarian Reserve, their self-protection measures were strengthened by making international support for the ethnic communities clearly visible.

PBI also underlines the importance of the visit of the Irish Ambassador, together with the Embassies of Sweden and the Netherlands, along with Colombian institutions to the community of Alto Guayabal (Uradá Jiguamiandó Humanitarian Resguardo).The visit took place as part of the European Union’s #DefendamosLaVida (#WeDefendLife) campaign, with the aim of raising awareness of the situation of risk faced by the Embera indigenous leader Argemiro Bailarín, as well as the seriousness of the human rights violations being committed against ethnic communities in the area. groups in the surrounding area in the Bajo Atrato region. The Irish Embassy undertook a leading role in supporting the threatened leader by releasing public statements, holding personal meetings with the leader and carrying out the aforementioned territorial visit. Following the volatile situation in the region during 20201, the security crisis in the Bajo Atrato and more generally in the department of Chocó continued into 2022. In this context, the assassination of two of the region’s indigenous leaders in September, and the forced displacement of several indigenous communities in the south of the department as a result of fighting between armed actors prompted PBI to activate its wider support network in an emergency response to the crisis. Advocacy work on the escalation of socio-political violence in Buenaventura, where PBI mainly accompanies three organisations (Fneb, Nomadesc and JyP), was considered a priority throughout 2021. At the beginning of the year, forced disappearances, assassinations and attacks against the civilian population in the port city increased dramatically. Around this time, PBI organised the first on-site visit of a delegation to Buenaventura since the beginning of the pandemic. Eight embassies, the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Colombia, the Mapp-OAS and European ecclesiastical institutions took part in the visit, where their activities included meeting and interviewing victims, social organisations

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PBI Colombia

and state authorities. Their intensive work has increased the influece of the #SOSBuenaventura campaign, and succeeded in reducing the violence at its peak. Throughout the year, the international community was kept informed about the situation of enforced disappearance in Buenaventura, as well as about the work of Fneb and JyP in the region. This included updating and asking for support in the progress of the application for precautionary measures for the San Antonio estuary, which were eventually granted by the JEP in December. Advocacy activities were also undertaken to draw attention to the increase in threats against several accompanied organisations including CSPP, Ccajar, Dh Colombia, Nomadesc and Credhos. With regard to the latter organisation, a great deal of work was done to increase international attention on the Magdalena Medio region, where the organisation has been promoting human rights for more than 35 years.

Following serious death threats against Credhos, PBI successfully drew attention to the risks faced by those who defend human rights and the environment in the region and the differential risks particularly faced by women environmental leaders. The advocacy team also highlighted the defence of the right to access to water, as well as raising the profile of those denouncing the impacts of the two fracking projects that are planned to be implemented in the

One of the most tangible results of these tours is the increased awareness of Colombia’s situation in the European Parliament. In fact, during 2021, around 30 The region has historically been abandoned by the parliamentary questions were raised about Colombia, state and is the focus of the work of the accompanied 10 more than in 2020. Several of these parliamentary questions were a direct organisation Cahucopana2. result of the visibility and advocacy work carried Advocacy tours with human rights out by PBI together with accompanied Colombian defenders to Europe and the United States organisations. Between October and December 2021, when the Publications restrictive measures implemented at the start of the pandemic were relaxed and as part of activities In 2021, four Human Rights Updates were written commemorating the fifth anniversary of the signing and distributed to PBI’s support network in Spanish of the Peace Accords, PBI Colombia organised four and English. Additionally, PBI produced multiple further face-to-face advocacy tours in Europe. Human rights defenders Franklin Castañeda (CSPP), restricted documents in which they provided Danilo Rueda (JyP), Annye Paez (ACVC) and Iván detailed information on the human rights situation in Madero (Credhos), were able to voice their concerns Colombia, the threats received by the accompanied about the human rights violations committed during organisations and the progress of their work. the National Strike and reflect on the impacts on These documents were used by PBI’s National Groups communities in the absence of a comprehensive in the preparation of their advocacy campaigns. We also issued two Action Alerts issued highlighting implementation of the Peace Accords. In October, following serious security threats against specific high-risk situations facing the communities Nomadesc as a direct result of its work in defence and organisations accompanied by PBI Colombia. region. In October a humanitarian mission attended by embassies and the Mapp-OAS was organised in Northeast Antioquia.

of victims of police violence in Cali, PBI organised and accompanied visits by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Colombia and representatives of several embassies to the organisation’s office headquarters. We also organised and accompanied an advocacy tour by Nomadesc’s president, Berenice Celeita, to the United States.

1. See PBI’s Annual Report 2020. October, 2021. 2. See the report “Resistir en un territorio olvidado” (Resisting in a forgotten territory), pg. 58

PBI would like to thank each of the individuals and institutions that participated in the missions and those who responded to the requests of the Colombian organisations and PBI by releasing public statements. The visits, public statements and follow-up actions to the concerns expressed by human rights defenders have had an important and effective impact in creating safe spaces for the work of human rights defenders and leaders. Likewise, it is important to highlight the work of PBI’s National Groups whose collaboration in terms of advocacy activities, organisation of tours, and preparation of meetings ensures a coherent advocacy strategy in PBI through the implementation of diverse advocacy activities and contributes to increasing the protection of those who defend human rights.

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PBI Colombia

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PBI Colombia

Raising awareness of the serious and ongoing threats faced by human rights defenders

hanks to the information that is shared by organisations, PBI continues to be a reliable channel through which information on the situation of human rights defenders in Colombia can be disseminated. In 2021, PBI Colombia continued to highlight the risk situation of the organisations and people accompanied through publications, interviews, webinars and through sharing information about emblematic cases on social media channels. The publications have a high readership and our social media followers continue to grow, successfully

expanding the outreach of the work of Colombian human rights defenders’ organisations.

Publications: Website and social networks PBI Colombia’s website continuously reports on the human rights work of the organisations we accompany, as well as commenting on the socio-political situation in the country. This year, 20 blog entries were published in Spanish and 18 in English. The Spanish blog received 43,967 visits and 68,549 views, while the English blog received 12,327 visits and 22,073 views. Among the most

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visited pages are the profiles of the organisations that PBI accompanies, which detail their trajectory and historical work in defence of human rights. In terms of social media networks, we focus a large part of our awareness-raising work on Twitter, due to the direct and immediate participation of the international community on this platform. The PBI Colombia account (@PBIColombia) has 6,652 followers, an increase of 869 on the previous year. In 2021 we received 54,791 profile visits, five times more than the previous year, and published 927 tweets, almost twice as many as in 2020. Additionally, PBI retweeted 4,170 tweets of relevant information from the accounts of accompanied organisations, media outlets, and different national and international organisations and bodies that defend human rights. Likewise, organisations and influential figures in the international community mentioned PBI Colombia in

PBI Colombia

3,051 tweets during 2021. This included tweets from the accounts of embassies and parliamentarians in which they expressed their concern about the risk situation of the people and organisations accompanied and which were often part of follow-up actions to meetings and territorial advocacy tours. PBI Colombia’s profile and reach increased on both Instagram and Facebook during 2021. PBI Colombia’s Facebook account increased its reach by 511 people, ending the year with a total of 11,905 followers. On Instagram, PBI Colombia reached a total of 1,354 followers, with an increase of 257 people. A total of 137 posts were published on Instagram, as well as daily stories about threats and attacks against the accompanied organisations, detailing their work in defence of human rights and providing relevant information about the Colombian political context with a focus on human rights.

Additionally, PBI promoted the large number of virtual and in-person events in which accompanied organisations were participating. Through our social networks, we published numerous photographic and written publications which focused on the work of women human rights defenders accompanied by PBI Colombia, as well as the different risks and impacts they suffer because of the fact that they are women. We published interviews with, among others, Berenice Celeita (Nomadesc), Jani Silva (Adispa, accompanied by JyP),Yanette Bautista (Fneb), Claudia Julieta Duque and Julia Figueroa (Ccalcp).

of the Year: Grassroots Level” and “Lifetime Achievement”, respectively. The third organisation nominated by PBI, the campaign “Defender La Libertad: Asunto de Todos” (Defending Freedom: Everyone’s Business)1, won the award in the category “collective experience or process of the year”. It is worth noting that a fundamental part of their work has been to denounce arbitrary detentions, judicial persecution and the criminalisation of social protest in Colombia, and that winning the award means that the work has received significant public recognition and wide spread media coverage2.

To mark the fifth anniversary of the signing of the Peace Accords in Colombia, PBI Colombia published five testimonial videos featuring accompanied human rights defenders, in which they gave their impressions and reflections on the socio-political violence and armed conflict in Colombia. The videos were disseminated on social networks and published on the blog on International Human Rights Day, achieving wide visibility and reach. Webinars During 2021, webinars and virtual seminars were once again a popular advocacy tool as an alternative to face-to-face events. We continued to have a high level of participation by accompanied defenders in both public and semipublic webinars. One example is the series of webinars PBI held about tackling the lack of guarantees for the exercise of social protest, in which members of Nomadesc, Dh Colombia, CSPP and Ccajar participated. It is also important to note that several of PBI’s projects collaborated on events held at the climate change summit (COP26) that took place in Glasgow in November 2021. The events aimed to draw attention to the work of environmental defenders and the fight against climate change in the various countries that PBI has projects. Diakonia Colombian National Human Rights Award This year PBI Colombia nominated three candidates for the awards. Nomadesc and Daniel Prado were finalists in the categories “Best Collective Process

1. The Defending Freedom: Everyone’s Business Campaign is organised by a network of organisations working to denounce arbitrary detentions, judicial persecution and the criminalisation of social protest in Colombia. It includes social, student, cultural, community and human rights organisations, and includes active leadership by CSPP, Ccajar and Dh Colombia, organisations accompanied by PBI Colombia. In 2021, the Campaign carried out coordinated work to confront the illegal use of force as a mechanism of persecution against those who demanded human rights in Colombia through social protest movements. 2. Premio Nacional de Derechos Humanos Colombia (@PremioNalDDHH): tweet, 22 October 2021.

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PBI Colombia

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PBI Colombia

Support for the Reconstruction of the Social Fabric

n 2021, the Area to Support the Reconstruction of Social Fabric (ARTS) accepted 100% of the workshop requested by our accompanied organisations. The workshops focused mainly on the following topics utilizing an integrated gender-focused methodology: digital security, psychosocial support and self-care. Throughout the period, ARTS coordinated 56 workshops lasting a total of 127 days, of which 18 (40 days) were workshops with Colombian organisations and 38 (87 days) were internal capacity-building workshops. During the first semester, the ARTS team provided psychosocial support and self-care tools virtually and

was able to follow up on several of the processes accompanied during 2020. Of particular note were the virtual workshops conducted with a group of women from Movice in Buenaventura, in which they worked on the impacts of socio-political violence, as well as organisational capacity-building for their process of searching for missing and disappeared family members. The work was carried out from a psychosocial, gender, and protection perspective.

organisations. ARTS promoted the creation of long-term work agendas concentrating on the different processes within the organisations. The methodologies they developed sought to include an intersectional gender, community and peasantfarmer focused perspective.

The return of this face-to-face work has taken place along two interlinked fundamental lines: on the one hand, protection and security, and on the other, self-care and psychosocial accompaniment, both implementing a transversal gender approach.

The second half of the year was characterised by the gradual return to face-to-face spaces and the opportunity to rebuild relationships of trust with the

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PBI Colombia

The Area to Support the Reconstruction of Social Fabric has resumed the following initiatives: • ARTS developed processes to create security protocols, utilizing a psychosocial and gender focused approach, with the organisation JustaPaz, and the accompanied organisation Corporación Jurídica Libertad (CJL). Given that Nomadesc and Fneb have played a leading role in the participation and accompaniment of victims of police violence during the National Strike in Cali and Bogotá, the same process of developing security protocols and psychosocial support were also initiated with the women from those organisations. • ARTS held a workshop with members of Finca la Europa as part of an emergency response to threats where work was carried out developing tools to work on four levels: mind, emotions, body and spirit, linking each of these areas with protection techniques. • Movice resumed its Escuelas de la Memoria (Schools of Memory) in which PBI plays an active role in the emotional accompaniment of the group. PBI accompanied the schools in Valle del Cauca, Meta and Barrancabermeja. The methodology was worked on jointly with colleagues from Movice and Ccajar and brought together Movice’s history of activism, Ccajar’s educational and legal experience and PBI’s knowledge of protection and psychosocial issues.The Valle del Cauca School was especially shaped by the impacts of the repression of protest and violence experienced in Cali during the National Strike, where ARTS provided psychosocial accompaniment to several of the victims. The schools in Barrancabermeja and Meta, on the other hand, had more to do with peacebuilding, given that they worked on memory and the search for reparation measures.

spaces to counteract the weakening of the cohesion of the women’s group which had occurred as a result of the pandemic context and the upsurge in violence in Buenaventura. • PBI signed a new agreement with the Karisma Foundation to facilitate digital security spaces. During the second half of the year, two collective spaces were held in which 26 human rights defenders participated from 14 accompanied and unaccompanied human rights organisations. In these spaces, the digital security capacities, mechanisms and strategies of the defenders and organisations were strengthened. Also through Karisma, emergencies caused by digital security attacks were successfully resolved with Ccalcp, Nomadesc and Cospacc. • Throughout 2021, PBI’s regional strategy and the articulation of organisations accompanied by the different PBI projects in Latin America has been strengthened. This achievement was possible thanks to the continuous contact with defenders from the Latin America Regional Program (LARP). PBI’s coordination with civil society organisations in Colombia has also been strengthened through their participation in the Psychosocial Roundtable. The exchange meeting that ARTS held with the head of the Centre for Studies on Conflict, Violence and Coexistence (CEDAT) at the invitation of the University of Caldas was also a positive experience. At this meeting, PBI presented their work in Colombia and the theoretical and methodological framework within which ARTS works. The aim of this meeting was to create alliances with actors that address the psychosocial approach within academia in order to share lessons learned and challenges from the work that PBI Colombia carries out in the field, thus reinforcing their theoretical vision with practical experience.

• ARTS worked to strengthen links with the internal Council of the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó, in an effort to strengthen the accompaniment process with young people and the organisational capacity of the Community. • The women of Movice in Buenaventura were accompanied in various face-to-face

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PBI Colombia

The long-awaited reunion

oming together, listening to one another, observing and transforming are words that we use on a daily basis to talk about our work Supporting the Reconstruction of Social Fabric. Our main working method involves starting by gathering together in the same space. The magic of sharing happens when we can see each other and be together in the moment. Sharing experiences allows us to identify with each other, to understand that we share similar lives and feel similar pain. It allows us to recognise the paths we have taken, and to share what we have done to get to this point.

Transforming pain is sometimes an arduous and painful task, and other times it’s a pleasant learning process. Yet we keep moving forwards, building contexts of peace despite the violence, getting up every day even though we are exhausted, and sharing whenever we can despite the mistrust that violence breeds.

There are many challenges ahead of us, including the implementation of the precautionary measures for the San Antonio estuary for the women of Buenaventura, or the growing insecurity in rural areas, but we continue to focus on strengthening the invisible links of the communities, like those who strengthen the roots of a tree before it starts to grow.

Some of us met for the first time, others had known each other for decades, but it had been almost a year and a half since they had all been able to spend time together. We had to start at the beginning: who are we? how are we? We began talking about new horizons: what do we want? where are we going? We did it with drawings, dance and theatre, drawing on all the tools that have been developed in Latin American community work for decades. We created symbols, and wrote poems and songs to give us strength and hope. In the end, meeting each other gives us just that, hope. Knowing that we are not alone, re-learning how to move forward and share what we have built in these spaces with others. Understanding our differences, learning to express our experiences creatively and reconstructing the relationships that allow us to continue to claim our rights.

Coming together is the first step towards creating different paths of resistance. However, two years ago the pandemic arrived to join the ongoing violence in the country, making it difficult for us to see each other, hold each other, and move together. This has been especially difficult for the communities where the presence of armed groups in the neighbourhoods and communities has increased. It’s also been difficult to meet up with each other virtually because of the lack of internet access for many and people’s concerns about the need to care and support their families during the most restrictive moments of the pandemic. This year, resuming face-to-face spaces has required a great deal of effort on the part of both ARTS and especially for the people and communities we accompany. It is the result of a shared desire and a firm commitment to continue building collectively and for peace, in spite of the difficulties. Thanks to their commitment to this process, we were able to meet with the women from the MOVICE chapter in Buenaventura and with women and men from the Finca la Europa in Sucre.

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PBI Colombia

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PBI Colombia

The people will not give up! The number of serious human rights violations in the city of Bogotá reflect the difficult circumstances in which the organisations accompanied by PBI were forced to carried out their work during the National Strike

PBI was accompanying Nomadesc on 3 May, the day of the Siloé massacre3 in which at least five people were killed and 33 were seriously injured4. Likewise, on 9 May, while PBI was accompanying Nomadesc to a meeting between civil society organisations and the Indigenous Guard at the University of Valle, armed civilians attacked the Indigenous Minga in the Ciudad Jardín neighbourhood, located to the south of the University5. Eight indigenous people were wounded that day6. Following these serious events, PBI has accompanied Nomadesc both physically and politically during acts of commemoration with the victims of socio-political violence and police repression. In August 2021, PBI coordinated an advocacy tour in Bogotá for Nomadesc and victims of state repression to share their testimonies with various embassies. In December, PBI organised an overseas advocacy mission to the United States for Berenice Celeita, Nomadesc’s director, where she held meetings Cali,Valle del Cauca with civil society organisations in order to raise The department of Valle del Cauca and its capital, international awareness of the organisation’s risk Cali, soon became the epicentre of the protests and, situation and, more generally, the poor security in turn, of police violence. In the first 24 days of the conditions for human rights defenders in Colombia. National Strike in Cali, 44 people were killed, mostly Additionally, several meetings were organised with US young adults2. congressmen, including Representative McGovern. PBI also accompanied the Justice and Peace Commission PBI accompanied Nomadesc on a permanent (JyP) in Cali during the visit of the S.O.S. Colombia Mission in July 20217. basis for five weeks between May and June. n 28 April 2021, the social uprising known as the National Strike began. Nation-wide demonstrations were held to protest against the announced Tax Reform. On 28 April, PBI accompanied CSPP in several verification committees in Bogotá, and Cospacc in Yopal (Casanare). Although the Tax Reform itself was withdrawn, millions of people continued to protest throughout Colombia, demanding improvements in public policies and opposing the strong repression with which the Colombian State reacted to the mass protests. Following the visit of the IACHR to Colombia between 8 and 10 June 2021, during which PBI accompanied organisations while they voiced their concerns to those present, the Commission expressed having received information “concerning serious human rights violations and the presence of various obstacles to securing the right to social protest”1.

The organisation carried out verification work in city’s marginalised neighbourhoods and in areas where protesters had gathered, such as Puerto Relleno, which is now known as “Puerto Resistencia” or Resistance Gate.

Every day more people were reported to have been allegedly killed by state agents, and many others reported missing. Nomadesc led the effort to establish the facts and locate these people through their extensive coordination with communities, civil society organisations and some state institutions, including Medicina Legal (Forensic Medicine).

Annual Rerpotl 2021

PBI Colombia

Between May and July 2021, PBI frequently accompanied JyP to the Portal de las Américas in the area of Kennedy, in the south of Bogotá. In this part of the city, the police intervened with harsh repression against the demonstrations. As a peaceful response to police violence, the young people set up a Humanitarian Space called “Al Calor de la Olla” . PBI provided essential visibility and protection that allowed JyP to accompany this process. JyP were also accompanied by PBI in Usme during the visit of the SOS Colombia Mission in July.

Bogotá

Among other human rights violations, in the city of Bogotá alone, there were 6 homicides of civilians, 790 people injured by disproportionate police response, 171 human rights defenders attacked in the course of their work, genderbased violence committed against 25 women, and 75 people who disappeared during the protests8. Despite these high figures of violence, the international accompaniment provided by PBI to Nomadesc, JyP, CSPP and Cospacc can be considered to have been valuable to the extent that, through physical accompaniment and national and international advocacy, a certain level of guarantees was maintained so that the accompanied organisations could continue to carry out their work of investigation, denunciation, demand for rights and accompaniment of victims of socio-political violence.

1. IACHR: Observaciones y recomendaciones de la visita de trabajo de la CIDH a Colombia, June, 2021. 2. El Tiempo: Las 44 personas asesinadas en los primeros 24 días del paro en Cali, 22 July, 2022. 3. Amnesty International: Cali: en el epicentro de la represión, 2021. 4. El Espectador: Lo que pasó anoche en Siloé (Cali) fue una matanza: líder social, 4 May, 2022. 5. IACHR: Observaciones y recomendaciones de la visita de trabajo de la CIDH a Colombia, June, 2021. 6. El Espectador: ¿Qué pasó en el sur de Cali el 9M?, 11 June, 2021. 7. Campaña Defender la Libertad – Asunto de Todas: Informe Final Misión SOS Colombia, 7 October, 2021 8. Campaña Defender la Libertad – Asunto de Todas: Boletín Informativo Bogotá: #PARONACIONAL, 27 July, 2021. 9. El Tiempo: ¿Qué está pasando con el Portal Américas?, 20 May, 2021.

Annual Rerpotl 2021

PBI Colombia

Resisting in a forgotten territory

Despite the fact that the international community’s attention to the region has been limited, PBI stresses the accompaniment provided to Cahucopana has allowed the organisation to continue its protection and capacity building activities and has raised awareness of its work outwith the region.

members, and bringing their concerns about human rights violations to the attention of international bodies. One of the most important outcomes of PBI’s physical and political accompaniment this year was the success of the international mission to Carrizal in October 2021. PBI facilitated the attendance of the German and Norwegian Embassies, the MAPP-OEA and the Ombudsman’s Office, to whom the rural communities were able to give details of the human rights violations of which they continue to be victims. Both the Norwegian5 and German6 Embassies publicly expressed their support for the full implementation of the Peace Agreement, and through their attention, In Remedios and Segovia, municipalities where increased international awareness of communities’ Cahucopana works in Northeastern Antioquia, demands. there has been a sharp increase in violence, with In Northeast Antioquia, a forgotten region of threats and murders of human rights defenders Colombia, the peasant farmers are resisting and and social leaders, several massacres1, and proposing a territorial approach to peacemaking. multiple selective assassinations2. Despite the fact that the international community’s In light of this context, the work carried out by attention to the region has been limited, PBI stresses Cahucopana is fundamental to strengthening the the accompaniment provided to Cahucopana has peasant organisational process, as well as for the allowed the organisation to continue its protection and capacity building activities and has raised construction of a stable and lasting peace. awareness of its work outwith the region. In April, PBI Colombia accompanied Cahucopana on a humanitarian mission in the rural area of Remedios, where they met with the area’s Community Action Board leaders to analyse the situation together, and gather information on human rights violations by armed actors. Using the information they were able to confirm during the humanitarian missions, Cahucopana produced a report on the human rights situation3 in the area which was formally presented in July in Carrizal (Remedios), in the presence of the Human 1. Indepaz: Informe de masacres en Colombia durante el 2020-2021, 7 Rights Ombudsman’s Office4. February, 2022. Cahucopana later also presented their findings 2. PBI Colombia: (@PBIcolombia): tweet, 20 July, 2021 and the community leaders’ demands in a virtual 3. Cahucopana: Informe de Derechos Humanos y Derecho humanitarian mission which was attended by several Internacional Humanitario del año 2020, 20 July, 2021. multilateral organisations, embassies and national 4. Cahucopana: (@CAHUCOPANA): tweet, 21 July, 2021. 5.The embassy of Norway in Bogota (@NoruegaenCOL): tweet, 27 entities. October, 2021. PBI accompanied Cahucopana on both occasions, 6. Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany Bogotá: (@ guaranteeing the security and protection of their EmbAlemaniaenCol): tweet, 28 de octubre de 2021. hroughout 2021, PBI Colombia provided integral accompaniment to the human rights organisation Humanitarian Action Corporation for Coexistence and Peace in Northeast Antioquia (Cahucopana) in several humanitarian commissions in the rural area of Northeastern Antioquia, a region particularly adversly affected by the armed conflict. Given the lack of guarantees provided by state authorities, the humanitarian commissions are part of the self-protection mechanisms developed by the communities that Cahucopana accompanies. Through this type of activity, the communities continue to demand guarantees for life, security and protection for the civilian population.

Annual Rerpotl 2021

PBI Colombia

A Global Humanitarian Agreement to protect lives

rom the beginning of 2021, the Justice and Peace Commission (JyP), accompanied by PBI Colombia, warned about the escalation of military operations in Bajo Atrato. Inhabitants of this geostrategic zone of the department of Chocó are victim to strong social control by the Gaitanista Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (AGC), a successor group to paramilitarism1 that remains in conflict with the National Liberation Army (ELN)2. The Canadian multinational Muriel Mining Corporation has nine mining exploration and exploitation titles covering some 16,000 hectares, impacting the region’s ancestral territories3. So far, the actions of this company have ignored the due consultation process, and pose the risk of potentially causing severe environmental damages to the territories inhabited by the indigenous Embera communities, should extractive mining operations finally begin4. Due to the severity of the humanitarian situation5 in 2021, which included the installation of landmines and military operations by the army including active combat, several of the indigenous communities are now in forced confinement6. They have repeatedly demanded an immediate ceasefire and a Global Humanitarian Agreement to guarantee their survival and right to remain in their territories7.

Despite the fact that several of the ethnic communities are beneficiaries of protection measures from the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), in September 2021 two indigenous leaders from Bajo Atrato were assassinated by armed groups: the former Embera governor of Chidima-Tolo, Efrén Antonio Bailarín8, and Dilio Bailarín9, leader of the UradaJiguamiandó Resguardo.

Furthermore, in July 2021, PBI resumed its accompaniment of JyP12 in the Cacarica Humanitarian Zones, where it had not entered since the beginning of the pandemic.The objective has been to guarantee the security of JyP and its work, which is mainly centred on strengthening the ability of the Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities that have opted for a peaceful solution to the conflict to remain in their territories.

Within this difficult context, PBI’s international accompaniment has made it possible for the accompanied organisation JyP to return to their territorial activities as well as allowed them to be able to access and provide accompaniment to new communities such as those of Chageradó (Murindó) and the Cuti Resguardo (Unguía). PBI also carried out an immediate activation in two cases of extreme risk in September 2021, and continued to raise awareness of the multiple appeals for protection measures for the Embera indigenous reserves of the Bajo Atrato region. At the community’s request, in August 2021 we accompanied JyP on its first visit to the community of Chageradó (Río Murindó indigenous reservation). This visit resulted in a petition before the IACHR for precautionary protection measures for the community. Subsequently, on 1 February 2022, the IACHR granted these measures for the families of Río Murindó and Río Chageradó10. In the same month, we accompanied the process of installing signposting that today demarcates the Humanitarian Zones of the Uradá-Jiguamiandó Indigenous Reservation. The signs, which were financed by the Irish Embassy as part of its support for the protection of the leader of the Resguardo Argemiro Bailarín11, constitute an important dissuasion tool. They reaffirm that the rules relating to the Humanitarian Zones and the community’s pursuit of an internationally supported strategy of peaceful resistance, is supported internationally.

Annual Rerpotl 2021

1. JyP: Paramilitares maltratan, amenazan y saquean a indígena, 21 February, 2021 2. JyP: ELN ordena toque de queda en comunidades Embera, 20 November, 2020. 3. PBI: El pueblo embera en defensa de su territorio sagrado, 9 February, 2022. 4. JyP: Minería nueva actuación que profundiza los riesgos de Emberas y Afros.7 October, 2021. 5. JyP: La perpetúa crisis de derechos humanos y humanitaria que padecen Embera,18 April, 2021. 6. Comisión de Justicia y Paz: Declaración de confinamiento del Resguardo Urada Jiguamiando CAMERUJ, 25 September, 2021. 7. JyP: Carta Abierta 32 – A pesar de los pesares, el país si está cambiando, 2 October, 2021. 8. El Espectador: Asesinan a líder indígena en Acandí, Chocó, 17 September, 2021. 9. Infobae: No se detiene el desangre: cae asesinado líder indígena en Chocó, 21 September, 2021.. 10. CIDH otorga medidas cautelares a favor de familias del pueblo indígena Embera Eyábida en Colombia, 3 February, 2022. 11. Embajada de Irlanda en Colombia y Panamá (@IrelandColombia). Tweet. 24 May, 2020. 12. Para saber más de Cacarica: PBI 2000, El retorno a Cacarica, 3 December, 2019.

PBI Colombia

Footnote: Following the murders of Efrén and Dilio Bailarín, PBI accompanied the emergency entry of JyP to the communities of Acandí and Alto Guayabal.The accompaniment provided protection and visibility to the communities, as they continued to receive threats in order to silence what had happened. Both Resguardos are under strong control by the AGC, which, as the Human Rights Ombudsman’s Office itself points out, is also exerted over other communities in the area13. Thanks to PBI’s accompaniment, JyP was able to attend the leaders’ burials and express its support for the communities and their fierce defence of territory and peace.The entry into the municipality of Acandí, located in the north of the department of Chocó, has given JyP the hope of resuming accompaniment to the indigenous communities of the Chidima-Tolo and Pescadito reservations, where they have not been able to enter since August 2020. 1. Defensoría del Pueblo, ALERTA TEMPRANA N° 004-2022, 17 de febrero 2022.

Annual Rerpotl 2021

PBI Colombia

Human Resources

021 saw PBI Colombia gradually beginning to recover from the impacts caused by the pandemic. Thanks to the arrival of the new field brigadistas selected during the virtual training and selection meeting which was held in August 2020, there were 18 active field brigadistas (BT) in 2021. They included 16 women and 2 men from: Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Norway, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom and United States. During the year, new field volunteers were incorporated into the teams to replace those who were finishing their volunteer period. Overall, between the departure of BTs who finished their experience and the incorporation of new volunteers, PBI Colombia maintained this average of 18 field brigadistas throughout the year, who were divided between our three teams in Bogotá, Barrancabermeja and Urabá.

Virtual training and selection events During the course of the year, two virtual training and selection events were held to replace the face-to-face format that was previously held annually in Spain. inety applications were received and processed for these meetings (78% women and 22% men). The selected volunteers joined the programme at four different moments during the year, at which time they participated in an initial orientation process: • 8 in February: 6 women and 2 men, from Ireland, Greece, Spain,Argentina, Italy,Argentina, Norway and Chile. • 2 in May: 1 woman and 1 woman, from Switzerland and Spain. • 3 in June: 3 women, from France and Brazil. • 2 in September: 2 women, from Ireland and France.

Psychosocial support

(external psychosocial support organisations with whom we have a collaboration agreement) for project ARTS carried out collective spaces with both the areas and teams, at different times throughout the support and field teams as well as follow-up spaces year. for individual project members. Furthermore, six external accompaniment sessions were carried out by Copsico and CAPS-Colombia

Ongoing training

Ongoing training activities increased and opportunities lost during the height of the pandemic’s impact were made up during the course of 2021.

The psychosocial area (ARTS) developed and implemented internal accompaniment plans to address the impacts of the pandemic and the context of socio-political violence on PBI’s team.

In October, PBI Colombia held the first project retreat since the beginning of the pandemic. The retreat’s activities concentrated on ongoing training, the strengthening of PBI’s organisational culture, and internal capacity building. Support Team The staff structure of the support team and Colombian staff remained the same as in previous years. Meanwhile, staff adapted their working methods according to the measures and restrictions of the pandemic. At the beginning of the year, priority was given to working from home for the support team and Colombian staff while later in the year, work resumed in the home-office as conditions returned to normal. Although the structure of the support team remained stable, there were changes in personnel during the course of the year: one person from the Coordination area, one person from the Visibility and Advocacy area, two people from the Fundraising area and all four people from the area of Support for the Reconstruction of the Social Fabric and Digital Security were new in post. By the end of 2021, the core structure of the support team was consolidated and included 13 people (8 women and 5 men) from Germany, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Spain, the United States, France and Italy. As for the Colombian staff, the structure comprising 3 people in the administration and accounting office (2 women and 1 man) and 4 people for domestic and logistical support in the house-offices (4 women) was maintained as in previous years.

Annual Rerpotl 2021

PBI Colombia

Annual Rerpotl 2021

PBI Colombia

Financial Report

eace Brigades International (PBI) is an international non-governmental organisation that has maintained a permanent team of international observer-accompaniers in Colombia since 1994. PBI has Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the United Nations’ central forum for coordinating economic and social activities of the institutions and specialised agencies that make up the United Nations system. This recognition strengthens PBI’s role with the UN, in particular our ability to raise the issues of human rights defenders and to strengthen their protection measures. Given that PBI’s headquarters are based overseas, that 100% of its income comes from international sources, and that there are no specific accounting standards for this type of organisation, the accounting of its economic operations has been treated in the same way as that of non-profit organisations in general. PBI Colombia’s accounting standards comply with the guidelines of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles in Colombia; its operations comply with the rules contained in Law 1314 and its regulatory decrees 2420 and 2496 of 2015 – IFRS for SMEs. The accounts of the Project have been audited by the firm CIP Auditores Ltda.

Exchange Difference The financial statements of PBI Colombia are valued in Colombian pesos (currency in which economic, financial and equity operations are recorded in Colombia), at the end of each accounting period, and are presented in dollars (currency in which income and expenses incurred in the United States are recorded) and in euros (for income and expenses incurred in the Eurozone). Revenues and expenses are accounted for in the currency in which they are incurred.The monetisation of income in the account “Donations to be received” and the recording of accounts receivable or advances and the justifications for these in currencies other than the peso and in different months give rise to the use of the account “Exchange difference”. These entries are made in the income statement.

The figures and results presented below correspond to the 2021 period and reflect the financial situation of the Peace Brigades International (PBI) Colombia Project. In this regard, the resources transferred by international agencies for the development of the project within Colombia are accounted for as income, and the expenses derived from the activities corresponding to the institutional mandate are accounted for as expenses. At present, there are no investments or accounts that generate interest that can be considered as income from national sources, which is subject to income tax. The organisation recognises as expenses costs those generated in relation to the accrual and association of income, which are always regulated by the general budget.

Financial Statements at the Closing of the Annual Accounts At year-end 2021, 31 December, the accounts show a surplus for the year of €17,457. Total (operating) income amounted to €702,756 and (operating) expenses amounted to €708,536. Other non-operating income includes an exchange rate differential of €23,749, plus income from Recoveries and Discounts of €2,788, giving a total income of €729,300.

TOTAL EXPENSES= € 711,843 OPERATIONAL= € 708,536 NON-OPERATIONAL= € 3.307 TOTAL INCOME = € 729,300 OPERATIONAL INCOME = € 702,756 NON-OPERATIONAL INCOME = € 26,544

Annual Rerpotl 2021

PBI Colombia

TOTAL REVENUE

EXPENSES COP 2021 EURO

GOVERNMENTAL REVENUE BY COUNTRY

REVENUE FROM FOUNDATIONS, UNIONS, CHURCHES, ETC., BY COUNTRY

Expenses Colombian staff Representatives in USA / EUROPE Field Volunteers Specialist Volunteers Capacity Building and Training of PBI Personnel € Housing and Food Volunteers Operating Expenses Physical accompaniment: materials, transport and daily expenses Media accompaniment: publications, website and social media Political accompaniment: advocacy activities and tours Psychosocial accompaniment and capacity building of defenders Governance at Project level Governance at PBI International level

Operational income € 68.186 € 80.192 € 97.899 € 118.758 € 12.424 € 86.625 € 20.634 € 61.659 € 14.007 € 19.606 € 11.955 € 44.185 € 72.406

€ 516.058 € 34.716 € 274.620 € 206.722

Income: foundations, trade unions, churches etc. By country Ireland Belgium Switzerland

€ 126.578 € 78.797 € 1.466 € 46.315

National groups and individual donors income / Others

€ 3.438

Multilateral income

€ 56.682 € 702.756 0,49%

€ 708.536

Governmental income by country Germany Spain Norway

Annual Rerpotl 2021

PBI Colombia

Donors PBI COLOMBIA IS A PROJECT MADE POSSIBLE THANKS TO: ACCD (Catalan Agency for Development Cooperation) | AEXCID (Extremadura Agency for International Development Cooperation) | Barcelona City Council | Pamplona City Council | San Sebastian City Council – Donostiako Udala | AVCD (Basque Agency for Development Cooperation) | CEAR (Spanish Refugee Aid Commission) | Christian Aid | Civil Peace Service – CPS | Government of Navarra | Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs | Bread for the World – Brot für die Welt | Protect Defenders – The European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) | UE European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights I PBI Canada I PBI Catalonia I PBI France I PBI Germany I PBI Navarra I PBI Netherlands I PBI Norway I PBI Spain I PBI UK

Annual Rerpotl 2021

PBI Colombia

PBI opens spaces for peace in Colombia www.pbicolombia.org

Peace Brigades International is an international NGO that protects the action space of people and organisations that defend human rights, and communities that are threatened because of their work in defence of the most fundamental rights. It has maintained a team carrying out international accompaniment in Colombia since 1994.

PBI Colombia Project Representative PBI Colombia Project PBI Delegation in Colombia Bogotá, for the USA and Canada Representative for Europe Colombia repusa@pbicolombia.net coordinacion.europa@pbicolombia.net coin@pbicolombia.net Tel. (+57) 310 293 8329 Tel. (+34) 634 256 339 Tel. (+57) 1287 0403

PBI Colombia's Annual Report 2021

Articles inside

Social unrest amid socio-political violence and humanitarian crises

In figures

Key work areas

Where do we work?

In Memoriam

Physical accompaniment

Advocacy

Who are we?