Home

Claudia Duque

International Campaign on Women Human Rights Defenders, Launch Statement

Defending Women, Defending Rights International Campaign on Women Human Rights Defenders

Mahboobeh Abbasgholizadeh, a woman activist in Iran and editor of Farzaneh (the first women’s studies journal in Iran) is in prison upon the order of Tehran’s General Prosecutor. For more than two weeks now, Mahboobeh has been held without any formal charges, and she has been denied access to legal counsel or any visitors. Her only apparent offense is her activism and strong linkages with international women’s rights movement. Fereshteh Ghazi, another woman journalist writing on women’s issues for a daily newspaper in Iran, was also arrested.

Irene Fernandez, a Malaysian woman activist who has been fighting for women workers’ rights, has been prosecuted and convicted by the Malaysian government in a case, which has been dragged on for eight years. She is being prosecuted for releasing comprehensive documentation of the abuses against migrant workers in detention in Malaysia. She is currently appealing her case before the court.  Read More

Human Rights Defender Claudia Duque goes into exile with her daughter

“though it hurts us, we have no other option but to kill your daughter, even if you go around in an armoured car, your daughter will suffer, we are going to burn her alive, we are going to scatter her fingers all over the place.”

Colombian Human Rights Defender Claudia Duque has been forced to go into exile along with her daughter as a result of the increasing severity of the threats against their personal safety. Along with several threatening phone-calls, voicemails and text messages since 7th September, Claudia Duque had been followed and her home had been patrolled. In a letter which she sent to the Colombian Ministry of Interior, Ms. Duque asserted that the inefficiency and inadequacy of the security assigned to her left her with no alternative but to go into exile. Furthermore, in her letter to the Ministry, Ms Duque alleged that one its agencies – La Comite de Reglamentacion y Evaluacion de Riesgos (CRER) – was jeopardising her safety through its complicity with those threatening her.

Concerns for the safety of Colombian human rights defender Claudia Duque and her ten year old daughter

Front Line is extremely concerned for the physical and psychological safety of Claudia Duque and her ten-year old daughter. According to information received by Front Line in recent months, Claudia Duque has been the victim of several threatening phone-calls, voicemails and text messages since 7th September 2004.

The gravity of the threats has gradually intensified and the latest call (17th November 2004) threatened to burn her daughter alive in retaliation for her [Claudia’s] human rights activities: “though it hurts us, we have no other option but to kill your daughter, even if you go around in an armoured car, your daughter will suffer, we are going to burn her alive, we are going to scatter her fingers all over the place”. Claudia Duque reports that she has also been followed, and her home and the places she frequents patrolled.

A Colombian journalist and prominent human rights defender, Claudia Duque has been involved in raising a number of contentious issues at a local, national and international level.  Read More

Syndicate content