PBI-Nederland supports Afro-Colombian human rights defender Victor Hugo Moreno Mina

Photo: Victor Hugo on the recent PBI webinar ‘Police violence has no borders’.

Peace Brigades International-Nederland is supporting Afro-Colombian defender Victor Hugo Moreno Mina through the Shelter City Network.

PBI-Nederland has tweeted this quote from Victor: “What I do as a human rights defender in Colombia is to protect and care for all life within our territory and fight against racial discrimination that still exists in our country.”

Shelter City has noted: “Victor is the former senior advisor and legal representative of the Association of 43 Community Councils of Northern Cauca (ACONC) representing 209 Afro-Colombian communities and their collective and ancestral territories.”

“He has spent most of his life defending the ethnic and territorial rights of the black Afro-Colombian people in the face of natural resource exploitation, such as goldmining, the onslaught of the armed conflict and denial of the right to land and self-determination.”

And it adds: “Victor is also a peace activist and was part of the delegation of Afro-descendants and indigenous communities in preparation for the Ethnic Chapter of the 2018 Colombian Peace Agreement between the government and the FARC.”

Angela Davis has stated that this chapter is not being implemented and that Black social movements continue to be “systematically targeted in Colombia.”

Following the assassination attempt on Francia Marquez in May 2019, where a number of prominent Black activists, including Victor, were present, Davis further commented: “During my time in Northern Cauca with Francia, I witnessed how inaction by the government directly contributed to the displacement and dispossession of black communities. Implementing the Peace Accord will bring the government one step closer to upholding the fundamental and constitutionally- protected rights of black communities.”

The Shelter City Network is a grouping of 11 cities in The Netherlands that recognize the dangers and stress experienced by human rights defenders. It offers shelter, training and a temporary respite from a threatening situation for them.

PBI-Nederland supports the Shelter City in Utrecht with the support of the City of Utrecht, Utrecht University, and UAF (the Foundation for Refugee Students).