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PRESS RELEASE
N° 18/09
IACHR DEPLORES KILLING IN COLOMBIA
Washington, D.C., April 17, 2009 – The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) deplores the murder of Ms. Ana Isabel Gómez Pérez, leader of a movement of victims that seeks the recovery of lands usurped by paramilitaries.
The information available indicates that Ms. Gómez Pérez, a member of the board of the Committee of Relatives Victims of Violence in Córdoba, was attacked in a rural area when she was travelling on a motorcycle with her 16-year-old daughter, who was unharmed by the attack. According to information that is publicly known, Ms. Gómez Pérez had received threats warning her to give up her leadership role among persons displaced by violence who sought reparations through the Justice and Peace Law. Ms. Gómez Pérez was displaced from her lands in Chocó, after receiving threats from the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC).
As the Commission has previously said, the acts of violence against victims of the armed conflict and against other persons who lead efforts for the application of justice and peace mechanisms, threaten the whole process of seeking truth, justice and reparation through the application of the Justice and Peace Law. The IACHR calls upon the Colombian State to conduct a judicial investigation into this crime and urgently adopt the measures required to afford due protection to the victims of the conflict and their representatives in the exercise of their fundamental rights.
A principal, autonomous body of the Organization of American States (OAS), the IACHR derives its mandate from the OAS Charter and the American Convention on Human Rights. The Inter-American Commission has the mandate to promote respect for human rights in the region and acts as a consultative body to the OAS in this matter. The Commission is composed of seven independent members who act in a personal capacity, without representing a particular country, and who are elected by the OAS General Assembly.
Useful links: Press Release No 4/07: IACHR Expresses its Condemnation of the Murder of Victim Seeking Reparation under the Justice and Peace Law in Colombia Press Release No. 21/06: CIDH enfatiza preocupación por amenazas contra defensores de derechos humanos en Colombia Report: Violence and Discrimination against Women in the Armed Conflict in Colombia
Read this press release in Spanish / Lea este comunicado de prensa en español
Press contact: María Isabel
Rivero
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