Fear for Safety/Threats to Women Human Right Defenders in Colombia
Amnesty International, UA 248/03, 20 August 2003

COLOMBIA Leonora Castaño (f) and other members of Asociación Nacional de Mujeres Campesinas, Negras e Indígenas de Colombia (ANMUCIC), National Association of Peasant, Black and Indigenous Women of Colombia

Amnesty International is seriously concerned for the safety of Leonora Castaño, president of the Asociación Nacional de Mujeres Campesinas, Negras e Indígenas de Colombia (ANMUCIC), National Association of Peasant, Black and Indigenous Women of Colombia, and other members of the organization. Two members of ANMUCIC were reportedly recently abducted by army-backed paramilitaries.

On 21 July Nora Cecilia Velásquez, leader of ANMUCIC in Cundinamarca department, was allegedly abducted by armed-backed paramilitaries. She was held for three days before being released. While being held, she was reportedly physically and psychologically tortured by the paramilitaries. According to her testimony, the paramilitaries repeatedly asked her about the leaders of the organization, particularly Leonora Castaño. Nora Cecilia Velásquez also stated that she had heard one of the paramilitaries saying "esa no era la mujer que queríamos" ("this isn't the woman we wanted").

On 1 August, Blanca Nubia Díaz, an ANMUCIC activist from La Guajira Department, who had been forcibly displaced to the capital Bogotá, was reportedly abducted and held for two hours by army-backed paramilitaries in Bogotá. She was also asked about the leaders of ANMUCIC, and was shown a death list containing the names of ANMUCIC leaders. The list contained Leonora Castaño's name. Leonora Castaño has also reportedly been the target of a campaign of threatening telephone calls on her mobile telephone and on her home telephone. These threats and the continued killings and attacks against human rights defenders heighten concerns for the safety of members of ANMUCIC.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

ANMUCIC is national human rights organization working for the defence of peasant, black and indigenous women of Colombia. Human rights organizations are frequently labelled as guerrilla collaborators or supporters by the security forces and their paramilitary allies. These organizations are thus presented as legitimate targets in the counter-insurgency war. Such accusations are often followed by serious human rights violations such as disappearances, murders or torture, committed by army-backed paramilitary groups, and also by members of the security forces. Armed opposition groups have also been responsible for threats against and killings of human rights defenders.