Brief overview of the Somos Defensores Program

Who we are

We are a protection space formed by the non-governmental human rights organizations Asociación Minga, Benposta Nación de Muchachas y Muchachos, and the Colombian Commission of Jurists (CCJ), which seeks to develop a comprehensive proposal to prevent attacks and protect the lives of people who are at risk because of their work as human rights defenders, when they watch over the interests of social groups and communities affected by violence in Colombia.

Mission

The Somos Defensores Program is a space that aims to contribute comprehensively to the realization of guarantees for the defense of human rights, from a rights-based approach and a peacebuilding perspective, capable of influencing the design and implementation of public policies; citizen affirmation of its importance for the consolidation of peace and for a democratic, equitable, inclusive, diverse, and pluralistic society; and the strengthening of protection scenarios from civil society, when conditions so require.

Brief overview of the Somos Defensores Program

What is currently known as the Somos Defensores Program, which includes the Minga Association, the Colombian Commission of Jurists, and Benposta Nación de Muchachas y Muchachos, has its origins in the Ad Hoc Committee for the Protection of Defenders, created in 1998 as a response by human rights organizations to serious attacks against the lives of defenders, social leaders, and processes. With this space, human rights organizations set out to develop their own initiatives to prevent further murders of defenders, exiles, or the fragmentation of social processes.

In line with these objectives, in 1999 the non-governmental organizations Benposta Nación de Muchachas y Muchachos, the Colombian Commission of Jurists (CCJ), the Center for Popular Education and Research (CINEP), and the Asociación Minga created the Non-Governmental Program for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (PNGPDDH), which later became the Somos Defensores Program (PSD), as it is currently known.

Since 2006, thanks to the support of a European Union project, the Program has been strengthened and has begun to develop different lines of action, positioning itself as a relevant actor in the field of comprehensive protection for human rights defenders. Over the years, the PSD has gained experience and credibility both nationally and worldwide due to the commitment and thoroughness demonstrated by its work.

Areas of work

Information System on Attacks against Human Rights Defenders (SIADDHH)

It is committed to documenting, researching, systematizing, and analyzing attacks against human rights defenders, following an established methodological framework and collaborating with social organizations throughout the country. This information is used to produce periodic reports published by the Somos Defensores Program, so that society is aware of the situation of selective violence and the context surrounding it.

Strategic communication

It contributes to building favorable public opinion on the defense of human rights, based on a strategy that starts by talking to society about the importance of human rights defenders and social leaders, strengthening alliances and exchanges with the media, the academic community, and other sectors, and developing communication campaigns.

Direct protection

It is responsible for implementing direct protection mechanisms and measures designed to enable human rights defenders at risk to protect their lives and those of their families, through organizational strengthening and safeguarding of life and liberty schemes. To this end, the Program provides mechanisms such as humanitarian aid, national and international internships, accommodation in safe houses, and temporary counseling.

Pedagogy

It is a strategy to strengthen communities and social and human rights organizations throughout the country, using methodologies based on exchange, action, and participation. Drawing on the teachings of popular education, the program addresses key aspects of protection and self-protection, risk analysis and assessment, and critical cartography for the development of protection mechanisms for the defense of territory and life. All of this is done with a community, psychosocial, and gender-based approach.

Incidence

Its objective is to promote, seek, and maintain spaces for exchange and dialogue with national and regional state institutions, as well as with different actors in the international community, on the situation of human rights defenders and the strategies implemented, always seeking to propose actions with a view to achieving an effective and adequate policy of guarantees for the exercise of human rights defense.