What can you do?

The key messages of the campaign and key recommendations for policy changes were developed by a number of Colombian, US and European organizations and consulted with dozens more. We now have more than 200 organisations supporting the campaign, including the biggest human rights and development organizations in the world. We are asking organizations to sign onto these two documents, as well as a letter to President Uribe and other key members of the government and state officials with the key messages and recommendations. We hope to have many organizations, church groups and prominent individuals from around the world signed onto the campaign to show a united front to the Colombian government, thus putting more pressure on them to make this issue a priority and to meet the recommendations.

When signing onto the campaign the name of your organization will be included in campaign documents and on the campaign website. These documents will express the key messages and recommendations of the campaign. You may request to see all campaign documents before putting your name to them.

We would also ask that wherever possible, you incorporate these key messages and recommendations into your work on human rights defenders. The idea is to move away from case-by-case reactions on defenders issues, to sustained advocacy for real policy changes.

Furthermore, we ask that you put the campaign logo and informational material on your website, referencing the campaign, and linking to the campaign website: www.colombiadefenders.org .

We will be organizing advocacy (policy and grass-roots) around the campaign in Colombia, U.S., U.K. and Europe in 2009 and 2010 and we would welcome your ideas and involvement. Of course we understand time and mandate limitations and thus invite whatever level of involvement is possible for you and your organization. Once signed up, you will receive occasional news and information about the campaign.

So please sign up!