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I saw the bullet hole in Yolanda Oqueli's side

It was too raw to tell you about Yolanda Oqueli before now and though it's very late, and we're leaving at 4am in the morning, I must try now.

Yolanda is a woman human rights defender in San Jose de Gulfo who is a community leader resisting the Exmigua mine. From everything we've heard, from all sides, mining of minerals such as gold and silver, sand and alloys is a huge issue in Guatemala. Generally the community affected is not consulted. No objective information or public proccess of consultation takes place to allay fears about damage to the environment; whether the rivers will be polluted; whether the forests will be felled and thus their water supply compromised; and also, what will happen after the mining licence expires and the environment needs to be repaired and rebuilt.

Yoly (as she wrote her name) has a history of intimidation because of her work. Her lawyer (pro bono) has lodged roughly 10 complaints through the legal process. She has been tear-gassed; graffiti had been written on her walls and threats against her and her children have been significant. Despite this, the Government to date has been mute.

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Colombia: End the killings - End the impunityposted on: 2011/07/19

Since the inauguration of President Juan Manuel Santos on 7 August 2010 it has been reported that 107 human rights defenders have been killed, meaning that one person is killed every 3 days.

Further Information

Following his June 2009 visit the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Philip Alston, noted that human rights defenders and victims' relatives are frequently intimidated and threatened and sometimes killed. Alston specifically cited stigmatisation of HRDs as guerrillas and terrorists by senior officials as a contributing factor.

Front Line is extremely concerned at the continued targeting of human rights defenders in Colombia. Front Line calls for an immediate end to the persecution of human rights defenders and for the Government of Colombia to guarantee in all circumstances that human rights defenders in Colombia are able to carry out their legitimate and peaceful human rights activities without fear of reprisals and free of all restrictions including judicial harassment.

DRC: Repeated threats against human rights defender Justin BAHIRWE posted on: 2011/07/19

Human rights defender Mr Justin Bahirwe, coordinator of SOS Information Juridique Multisectorielle (SOS IJM), received death threats and intimidatory messages by phone on 6, 7, 10, 30 June and 1 July 2011. The undersigned NGOs express their deep concern about the threats received by Justin Bahirwe and call on the Congolese authorities to ensure his physical and psychological integrity.

According to the information received by the undersigned NGOs, the threats appeared to be related to the human rights activities of Justin Bahirwe. The human rights defender is currently working on a project funded by the European Commission and aimed to strengthen the role of civil society in rural areas. The threats appeared to be also related to Justin Bahirwe's work on the case of his colleague Mr Adrien Zawadi, project supervisor at SOS IJM, who was violently assaulted on 1 May 2011.

Guatemala: Congress approves new International Commission of Experts to tackle impunityposted on: 2007/08/03

The Guatemalan Congress has voted to establish a joint United Nations and Guatemalan Commission of Experts which will work to break the cycle of violence and challenge the culture of impunity.

Towards Full and Effective Implementation of the EU Guidelines on Human Rights Defenders in Democratic Republic of Congoposted on: 2007/06/25

In November 2005, Front Line carried out a mission in the DRC in order to research the extent to which the EU guidelines for the protection of human rights defenders are being implemented in the country, especially with respect to Eastern DRC, one-and-a-half years after their adoption. See report for full details.