On Tuesday, 20th September 2023, we launched from Colombia the Spanish Report of the VII International Caravana of Jurists to Colombia in 2022 and celebrated the Colombian Caravana’s 15th anniversary.
The theme of the VII International Caravana of Jurists was judicial independence, with a focus on the judiciary’s role in combatting impunity and providing access to justice for victims and human rights lawyers and defenders. The Caravana was composed of 18 jurists and defenders from Canada, France, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. During the Caravana, participating jurists held meetings with lawyers, human rights organisations, local authorities and justice operators in Bogotá, Bucaramanga, Cali, Cartagena and Cúcuta.
The findings of the VII Caravana were shared in a hybrid event featuring a panel of international experts on Colombia: Sara Chandler, lawyer (UK), co-founder of the Colombian Caravana; Dora Lucy Arias, Colombian Human Rights Lawyer and co-founder of Caravanas; Gonzalo Saenz (Spain) of the International Observatory of Lawyers at Risk (OIAD); Reinaldo Villalba ( Colectivo de Abogados José Alvear Restrepo CAJAR); Leonardo Jaimes (Equipo Jurídico Pueblos EJP); Julia Figueroa (Corporación Colectivo de Abogados Luis Carlos Pérez CCALCP); Carlos Ojeda ( Fondo de Solidaridad con Jueces Colombianos FASOL) and Agueda Teja ( OIAD). We had participants from Colombia, the UK, Spain, Canada, Italy, France, the Netherlands, and the USA.
We reaffirmed the need to continue the Caravanas to raise awareness and protect and save the lives of lawyers and human rights defenders in Colombia. We reaffirmed how their work is essential for access to justice. The success of the Caravana delegations has been because they have arisen from the needs and demands of Colombian lawyers, to which international lawyers have joined in solidarity. Colombian lawyers and international delegates will continue the dissemination of the report as a tool for advocacy and solidarity. Colombian Caravana will organise the VIII Caravana on 20-31 August 2024.
You can read the press release.