Franklin Castañeda Villacob
Franklin Castañeda Villacob is the President of the Fundación Comité de Solidaridad con los Presos Políticos. CSPP is one of the founder organizations of the Colombian Coalition against Torture, and provides legal assistance to prisoners and detainees whose rights have been violated. The human rights defender also serves as the national spokesman for the Movement of Victims of State Crimes (MOVICE).
Despite recent peace talks, Colombia remains one of the countries with the highest rates of killing of HRDs in the world. The UN reported that 69 HRDS were killed between January and August 2015 - the number was 35 for the same period in 2014. HRDs are subjected to threats, intimidation, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, physical assaults, torture, killings, illegal searches of their homes and offices and stigmatisation as a result of their activities in defence of human rights. The perpetrators of these abuses are frequently paramilitary groups, many of whom have links to the government or security services, or armed opposition groups.
