Dagoberto Giraldo Henao
Dagoberto Giraldo Henao is the President of the Junta de Acción Comunal de las Américas (Community Action Board of the Americas) and a board member of theJunta directiva de la Asociación Campesina Cordillera de los municipios de Montañita, Florencia, Paujil y Doncello – Acomflopad (Rural Cordillera Association of the Municipalities of Montañita, Florencia, Paujil y Doncello). Both organisations are associated with the Asociación Nacional de Zonas de Reserva Campesina – ANZORC(National Association of Rural Reserve Areas).
ANZORC is a country-wide association of 76 organisations in Colombia that represents the interests of rural communities in different regions of the country and seeks to aid rural communities in claiming their rights to land and food sovereignty. ANZORC further acts as an interlocutor of the rural farmers' (campesinos) interests and a mediator in land disputes, helping to defend and promote human rights in these communities.
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.
