Chronicle of Human Rights Podcast Podcast

Colombia: Clemencia Carabalí, Human Rights Prize, Threatened in Cauca

In Colombia, members of the former Farc guerrillas who disappeared into the wild reappeared in a video late August, armed and in camouflage, announcing that the Farc were reconstituting themselves this time to fight corruption, for a better Colombia . An announcement that has the effect of a cold shower. Those who have demobilized have denounced this resumption of arms, and the government has already launched operations to crush them. The violence, which has risen a notch, has not completely disappeared and human rights defenders are the first victims. Clemencia Carabali is laureate of the Colombian Human Rights Award granted this week. She defends the rights of Afro-Colombian women in the region of Cauca, very affected by conflict. Véronique Gaymard was able to reach her by phone.

Clemencia Carabalí is a survivor and recognized defender of the rights of Afro-Colombian women. She has spent more than twenty-two years in her region of north-Cauca in the south-west of the country, where several armed groups have re-emerged since the signing of peace agreements in 2016.

" We fight for the defense of our lands, water, for the defense of the rights of women who are being violated by the armed conflict in the country and in particular in our region of North Cauca. We have suffered a lot from forced displacement, we have been victims of sexual violence, we have been dispossessed of our lands, our environment has been polluted and we have suffered targeted killings and killings ".

The spearhead of the association of the 220 Afro - Colombian women of North Cauca led by Clemencia Carabalí since 1997 is the fight against discrimination of blacks and women in Colombia.

" In Colombia, we still see these discriminations very violently. We Afro-Colombian communities, we often live in areas rich in natural resources, but whose population is totally abandoned. We are stigmatized. We are being fenced because we are women, but also because we are black and poor. So we are fighting on all three fronts. Fortunately, we can count on our collective, which is getting stronger day by day, it's a fight we're all fighting together . "

Clemencia Carabalí had to leave Colombia in 2000, at the height of the violence, because of paramilitary groups. She had left her family behind, and does not want to have to relive this forced exile.

" I have been threatened on nine occasions, and I suffered a grenade attack on May 4. And then several years ago in the middle of the conflict on our territory, I lost my baby, because of this violence. My anger feeds me to try to change things . "

RFI: What are the latest threats that you have received?

" I receive threats by mail, or on my cell phone, this is the most common, otherwise they send people to pass these messages to us. The last message on my phone said that the May 4th bombing was just the beginning ... They mentioned my name and that of five other people, they said we should stop our activities, that their plan was not finished . And then the previous message said that I had 72 hours to leave the territory, otherwise I was a dead woman. It's that kind of message . "

It is also the courage of Clemencia Carabalí and her association of Afro-Colombians of North-Cauca which was rewarded Wednesday by the Prize of the defender of the human rights of Colombia. At the ceremony in Bogotá on Wednesday, participants first observed a moment of silence in tribute to the 460 human rights defenders murdered since the signing of the peace accords in 2016.

For Clemencia Carabalí, this human rights prize is a very important support, it will give it a greater visibility.

" We receive this award at a time when the situation in Cauca is very violent. The political calendar with the local elections in a month makes us all more vulnerable. But we must continue, as far as possible.
Personally, I have been with the Protection Unit for more than a year because I received very serious threats in July 2018. I am therefore entitled to one armored vehicle and two officers for my protection. That's how I move on the territory.
My relatives live all this with a lot of anxiety, but they are my biggest supporters. They are worried, but they take care mostly of me (laughs).

The award is designed to help Afro-Colombians in North Cauca stay alive, says Clemencia Carabali, so that violent groups know they are not alone.

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