Webinar: The Struggle for Justice for Victims of Police Violence in Cali, Colombia

We have registered to watch to the webinar The Struggle for Justice for Victims of Police Violence in Cali, Colombia on Friday December 10 starting at 12:30 pm ET.

The webinar will feature:

Berenice Celeita (Director, Nomadesc) who will discuss  the current human rights situation in Cali, the status of police reform in Colombia, how justice should materialize for the victims of police brutality, and what the international community can do to support Nomadesc’s efforts.

Javier Garate (Advocacy Representative for the US and Canada, Peace Brigades International-Colombia Project) who will examine the security challenges faced by social leaders supporting victims of this recent violence.

Gimena Sánchez-Garzoli (Director for the Andes, WOLA), who recently visited Cali during Representative Jim McGovern’s delegation to Colombia, will moderate the event.

The context for the webinar is the use of force by Colombian security forces against the national strike and social protests in Cali, the country’s third largest city that has a high number of Afro-descendant residents.

The promotion for the webinar notes: “When the violence broke out, human rights defender Berenice Celeita and her team at the Association for Research and Social Action were out in the streets of Cali monitoring and assisting the victims of police violence.”

It adds: “Currently, Nomadesc represents over twenty cases of victims of this recent police violence. Among these cases are the parents of youth killed by the police, women subjected to sexual abuse, torture survivors, and individuals who have permanent ocular injuries due to the actions taken by security forces.”

And it further notes: “Invaluable efforts to secure justice for these cases have unfortunately led to death threats, persecution, monitoring, and surveillance against Celeita.”

The webinar is being sponsored by the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), Peace Brigades International, Latin America Working Group (LAWG), Colombia Human Rights Committee, Amnesty International, and Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights.

Simultaneous interpretation between English and Spanish will be available, exclusively on Zoom. Register here.