Dear Caravana supporters
Will you help us continue supporting human rights lawyers in Colombia
The Caravana isn’t an expensive charity to run – we have a part-time coordinator, and many members who donate their time and expertise to support our work. But, we do need some essential funds.
Please make a donation today to support human rights lawyers and human rights defenders in Colombia
Your donation will support and provide vital funds to support our Colombian partners so that we can organise our biannual delegations with international jurists to Colombia, as well as our advocacy and solidarity work defending the right of Colombian lawyers and human rights defenders to carry out their work without threats, violence or surveillance.
Any amount you can spare is really appreciated!
Please remember to add gift aid so your donation goes even further!
Thanks very much for all your support,
If you are wondering what your donation makes possible, here are some of the amazing things that the Colombian Caravana has done this year. With your support, we can continue.
We have contributed to the alternative report for the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) 2023 in a joint submission with civil society organisations in Colombia and Europe under the umbrella of OIDHACO. We have highlighted the challenges lawyers and human rights defenders face in carrying out their work and ensuring access to justice for victims of human rights violations.
We also hosted a Tour to London in December 2022 with Adil Meléndez Marquez as part of European Tour with other international organisations. Adil is an internationally recognised lawyer for defending afro descendants, indigenous and peasant communities in emblematic land restitution cases, and for victims of corruption by high-ranking officials and crimes perpetrated by paramilitary groups, the police and the army. Meléndez has also represented victims in the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) since its creation in 2016 and is part of the National Movement of Victims of State Crimes (MOVICE).
We launched the report of our delegation 2022 at CAFOD (in March 2023): Professor Sara Chandler was the Moderator with interventions by Colombian Lawyer Dora Lucy Arias Giraldo, who 15 years ago invited Sara Chandler to organise the First International Caravan of Jurists to Colombia and Gloria Silva Human Rights Lawyer, from Equipo Jurídico Pueblos. Colombia. Heather Neun, Lead-Author of the Report presented the main conclusions and recommendations and comments from Courtenay Barklem, Chair of the Human Rights Committee, Law Society of England & Wales and 2022 caravanner.The report will be presented in other European cities and in Colombia.
We can’t do it without your help.
Please make a donation today. And don’t forget to tick the Gift Aid box!
THANKS VERY MUCH FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
If you would like to donate to us another way, or if you require further information, please contact: colombian.caravana@gmail.com
St Paul’s Circuit Fundraiser!!
FUNDRAISING!!
Perhaps you would like to raise some funds for us?!
In the past, people have got together and organised fundraising events such as:
- Sponsored Salsa-thon
- Sponsored bike ride
- 3 Peak Challenge
- Sponsored run around La Sagrada Familia
- Raffles
- Sponsored walks
…all to raise money to support the vital work of Colombia Caravana!!
You could even open your own fundraising page linked to our BT My Donate page, and ask your firm, colleagues, friends and family to sponsor you!!
Sponsored run around La Sagrada Familia!
3 Peak Challenge!
Raffle Night!
Fundraising Night by Newcastle University students!
Katie’s Fundraising for Inter Church Commission of Justice and Peace
Katie, one of our 2014 Caravana delegation members, and has recently been involved in raising funds for human rights NGO Comisión Intereclesial de Justicia y Paz (Inter Church Commission of Justice and Peace – CIJP). Here is an article that she has written about why she decided to organise a bake sale at her Church in London.
I was a member of the 2014 Colombia Caravana delegation to Colombia and was extremely fortunate to meet several representatives of the human rights NGO Comisión Intereclesial de Justicia y Paz (CIJP). Earlier on I had met with the indigenous communities umbrella organisation ONIC and been shocked by accounts of the displacement of communities from their lands. For these communities, their identity is indelibly linked to their land and therefore this displacement represents a very real threat to their ultimate existence.
I found meeting with CIJP a particularly moving and also inspiring experience. Their work is focused on providing legal representation and accompaniment services to victims of forced displacement, notably indigenous communities, campesinos and Afro-Colombian communities. The NGO is an inter-church NGO, comprising members from Catholic, Presbyterian and humanist backgrounds. When the representatives were asked what form of assistance would be most useful to CIJP in the long-term, they explained that raising awareness amongst the international community was very important but also that financial assistance of any kind would be very much appreciated.
The obstacles an NGO like this faces are enormous owing to the sheer volume of cases, but also the constant threats that their members face in conducting their work, ranging from malicious attempts to discredit their work as ‘guerrilla lawyers’ to assassination attempts and other violent attacks. The representatives found making a request for financial support very difficult and were visibly embarrassed, but I promised myself that on my return to London I would make an effort to raise funds for this NGO. Because the NGO has a Christian foundation and I am Catholic, I decided to do a fundraiser at my Church.
On 1 March 2015, I held a fundraising cake sale at my church, St Mary’s in Hampstead. Thanks to the generosity of the parishioners of St Mary’s, the event raised £250, all of which was sent to the Inter Church Commission of Justice and Peace.
(Katie whilst on the 2014 Delegation Visit to Colombia)