Soraya's story

Soraya Gutiérrez Arguello - José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers’ Collective (CCAJAR), Colombia

On 6 April 2006, Soraya Gutiérrez Arguello, President of CCAJAR, was presented with the American Bar Association’s International Human Rights Lawyer Award for her work in defence of human rights in Colombia.  This award is not only well deserved but welcome recognition of her work.  For Colombian lawyers, the choice to defend human rights cases is one that they are made to pay for – sometimes with their lives.  Soraya is no exception and the same human rights work that earned her the ABA award this year provoked very different reactions in previous years.  On 13 May 2005 a package was delivered to her house late at night.  It contained a decapitated and mutilated doll together with a note saying: "Usted tiene una familia muy linda cuídela no la sacrifique".  (You have a nice family, look after it and do not sacrifice it). 

This was not the first time Soraya had been threatened though.  On 13 February 2003, while travelling to Bogotá, she was attacked by unidentified gunmen armed with sub-machine guns.  Fortunately she was in an armoured car assigned to CCAJAR as part of the government’s protection program for human rights defenders and escaped unhurt.  This particular attack followed a series of anonymous phone calls and death threats made against other members of the Collective.

CCAJAR was formed in Bogotá in 1990.  They work at both national and international levels with the aim of promoting and defending human rights, seeking justice for violations and fighting impunity.  Many of their cases involve senior military officers and one of their most high profile cases is the Chengue paramilitary massacre.  Due to the nature of their work they have been subject to threats from the beginning.  On the same day as Soraya received her ‘doll’, fake advertisements were placed in the national newspaper advertising employment with the Collective, giving details of telephone numbers and meeting places.  The details themselves were correct and the incident was designed to show the Collective that they were under close surveillance.

Human rights lawyers in Colombia are subject to the same threats and harassment as other human rights defenders.  Their situation is also aggravated by the lack of a professional institution such as the Law Society or Bar Association.  This means they have no-one able to represent them to the authorities, to protect them as a body or to advocate respect for the exercise of their profession as an important component of the democratic system of justice. Colombia is actually the only country in Latin America that does not have such a professional association.

PBI has been supporting Soraya and CCAJAR since 1996 by providing protective accompaniment to their lawyers. The accompaniment is supported by lawyers, diplomats, MPs and other PBI supporters worldwide.  This international backing adds strength to the presence of the team in Colombia and helps them to create a political space for CCAJAR to carry out their work.  According to Luis Guillermo Pérez Casas of CCAJAR, the fact that he and the other members are still alive is because of PBI’s presence and protection. In Soraya's words:

"We will continue to work in the fight against impunity, because the values and resistance of communities are the best example of how to continue building our dream of a Colombia where equality and respect for human rights reigns and also because we have international support and the permanent, resolute and generous accompaniment of PBI.    This accompaniment enables us to help defend victims rights in court cases in remote regions of the country, because they raise awareness of our daily work with civil and military authorities at local, regional and national levels, because they defend the working space and legitimacy of the work of human rights defenders in Colombia.  PBI's accompaniment is today one of the few guarantees that we can count on to continue working for life, truth and justice".

At a meeting in London in 2005, Soraya explained that the persecution of human rights defenders in Colombia continues to be systematic and ranges from extra-judicial killings to arbitrary arrest to threats and harassment.  The latter are often extended to family members and, as a result, many human rights defenders have felt forced to move to a different region or go into exile abroad.  She went on to say that figures from 2004 showed that more than 6,500 people have been detained arbitrarily, many of them in mass arrests of whole communities and organisations designed to criminalise those sectors of society that oppose the government, i.e. trades unionists and human rights defenders.  More than 35 human rights defenders had been killed and over 688 trades unionists attacked.  She also explained that the government has made several statements defining human rights defenders as enemies of the State and defenders of terrorism.

According to CCAJAR, the Colombian government’s policy of ‘Democratic Security’ employs repressive mechanisms which infringe civil liberties and constitutional guarantees and give considerable freedom to the State intelligence agencies at the expense of civil society and democracy.  One element of the policy is to deny the existence of an armed conflict in Colombia, classifying it as a terrorist threat instead.  This means they can bypass the application of international humanitarian law and also aggravates the vulnerable situation of the civilian population.

Now accompanied by PBI, CCAJAR are able to get on with their work although many other human rights lawyers are not so fortunate.  The price of defending justice in Colombia is very high and the fact that so many are willing to take the risk is a testament to their bravery and integrity.