Human Rights and Peace Observatory
El observatorio de Derechos Humanos y Paz del Instituto Popular de Capacitación es un ejercicio académico y político de investigación/acción/participación que se adelanta desde el año 1994, y con el que se busca la producción social de conocimiento a partir de la investigación social, el análisis y la sistematización; la producción de opinión para la construcción de opinión pública; la educación popular para la transformación cultural; la incidencia en la construcción y transformación democrática de la institucionalidad del Estado; y la incidencia la construcción democrática de políticas públicas que garanticen y protejan de manera efectiva los DDHH de los individuos y los derechos colectivos de los pueblos y los pobladores en sus territorios.
El Observatorio pretende trascender los conceptos formales e instrumentales de los derechos humanos para aportar en el análisis y seguimiento a contextos situados, de la mano de los procesos organizativos que acompaña en los distintos territorios del departamento, teniendo como punto de partida, además de la recolección de datos e información cuantitativa y cualitativa, los saberes populares que entrañan las comunidades. De ahí que, se concentre no sólo en el seguimiento al ejercicio y vulneración de los derechos civiles y políticos, sino en el seguimiento a conflictos socio-ambientales y sus afectaciones a comunidades, así como las apuestas por los procesos de memoria, la justicia transicional, la reparación colectiva y la construcción de paz. Como fruto de este trabajo, el Observatorio ha incluido en sus análisis los derechos de la naturaleza como posibilidad para que territorios y comunidades continúen la lucha por sus reivindicaciones sociales y políticas.
At present, its intervention is focused on research, political and legal accompaniment by promoting legal actions in defense of human, social, economic, cultural and environmental rights.
To this end, it works with various civil society organizations, universities, think tanks and public and private institutions, such as the Latin American Council of Social Sciences (CLACSO), of which it is an associate center, and with the Council for Popular Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (CEAAL); at the national level, with the Coordination Colombia Europe United States -CCEEU- platform, the Social Process of Guarantees, the Roundtable for Human Rights in the face of corporate power and, recently, the Colombian Network of Popular Advocacy, a process promoted by the Latin American Institute for an Alternative Society and Law -ILSA-. This work is in addition to that carried out with Afro-descendant, indigenous and peasant communities, women's, environmental, youth, cultural and victims' organizations in sub-regions such as Bajo Cauca, Northeast, Southwest, West and Valle de Aburrá.
Como parte de este proceso, el Observatorio cuenta con dos publicaciones anuales permanentes en las que hace difusión del seguimiento al estado de la situación de Derechos Humanos en Antioquia: se trata del Boletín anual sobre el estado actual de los derechos humanos en Antioquia y la publicación de la revista Relecturas, que a la fecha ajusta su edición #45.
Trabajo reciente
- Relecturas 45: Territorios, extractivismos y discursos: retos para una transición posible
- Pronunciamiento público: A new hearing in the lawsuit filed by AngloGold Ashanti against those who defend water and land in Jerico
- Informe: Impulso a la defensa de los ríos en la macrocuenca Magdalena-Cauca
- Informe: Effects of extractivism conflicts on women's body-territory in the Bajo Cauca region of Antioquia: women and gold mining in the Nechí riverbed.
- Boletín N°25: Amazonía en Colombia: realidades y perspectivas.
Territories of action
Bajo Cauca
In the Bajo Cauca sub-region, the Observatory, together with organizations such as the Pluriethnic Network for the Defense of Territory and Human Rights, which brings together around 103 communities and Afro-descendant, indigenous, peasant, fishermen, environmental, women's and victims' organizations, has been working on accompaniment, research and action on issues such as:
- Memory, in terms of cases of forced disappearance in the context of the armed conflict.
- Impacts of mining exploitation in the river basin, with a special focus on the impacts on women's bodies in the municipality of Nechí and the village of Puerto Claver, in the municipality of El Bagre.
- The implementation of point 1 of the peace agreement "Integral Rural Reform".
- Accompaniment as members of the advisory team to the Guardians of the Cauca River, thus recognized as of sentence 038 of 2019 that declared the Cauca River as a subject of rights and which was issued by the Superior Court of Medellin.
- Accompaniment in the discussion of the land use planning model in the Serranía de San Lucas.
- Accompaniment in the construction of a citizen control mechanism for the implementation of the Plan de Ordenamiento y Manejo de Cuenca -POMCA- of the lower-middle basin of the Nechí River.
- Accompaniment in the documentation and constitution of the Asociación de Campesinos del Bajo Cauca -ASOCBAC- as subjects of collective reparation and in the filing of a precautionary measure before the Inter-American Human Rights System for this organization and its members.
Valle de Aburrá
In the subregion of Valle de Aburrá, the Observatory has a work of accompaniment, research and action on issues such as:
- Participation in the Air Quality and Public Health Movement.
- The construction of a training school in human rights, which works on research and communication skills of young people to document and denounce the violation of human rights from the youth in Medellin.
- Promoting strategies aimed at the prevention and protection of children, adolescents and young people in contexts of recruitment and use by armed groups.
Northeast
In the sub-region of Northeastern Antioquia, the Observatory, together with the Association of People Affected by the Porce River -AFEPORCE-, has been working on accompaniment, research and action on issues such as:
- Documentation and characterization of a comparative case study on the impacts of the Porce II, III and IV project, carried out by Empresas Públicas de Medellín.
- The documentation and characterization of a comparative case study on the impacts of the exploration and extractive exploitation of the Gramalote project, carried out by AngloGold Ashanti Colombia in the municipality of San Roque.
- Legal support to the Association of People Affected by the Porce River -AFEPORCE-.
Southwest
In the sub-region of Southwest Antioquia, the Observatory, hand in hand with the Western Environmental Belt and the Environmental Roundtable of Jericho, has a work of accompaniment, research and action on issues such as:
- The documentation and characterization of a comparative case study on the impacts of the exploration and intended extractive exploitation of the Quebradona Copper Mining project, carried out by AngloGold Ashanti Colombia.
- Legal support to farmers in the municipality of Jericho who were sued by AngloGold Ashanti Colombia.
West
In the subregion of western Antioquia, the Observatory has research and action work on issues such as:
- The documentation and characterization of a comparative case study on the impacts of the extractive exploitation of the Buriticá Mine project, carried out by ZIJING-CONTINENTAL GOLD.
Other territories
Associations with which we work
- Association of People Affected by the Porce River -AFEPORCE-
- Western Environmental Belt
- Environmental Board of Jericho
- Red Pluriétnica por la Defensa del Territorio y los Derechos Humanos del Bajo Cauca