International support for a humanitarian agreement

Adolfo Pérez Esquivel

31/03/2010

Opinión

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The signatories below, members of the International Ethics Commission for Truth in Colombia, and other people from around the world, human rights organizations, intellectuals, solidarity groups and movements for the rights to memory, truth and justice are closely following events that help the humanization of the war in Colombia, promoted by Colombians for Peace, a national and international movement of citizens, led by Senator Piedad Cordoba.

In earlier communiqués from the Ethics Commission we had expressed our solidarity with and concern for the Moncoya family regarding the liberation of their son, a Second Corporal of the Army, Pablo Emilio Moncayo Cabrera.Today we join the great happiness of the Moncayo family and the family of the professional soldier Josué Daniel Calvo, after the liberation of both of them by the FARC-EP guerilla.

We celebrate this happy ending brought about by a unilateral decision by the FARC-EP guerilla, which shows their willingness to make progress towards a humanitarian agreement and a politically negotiated way out of the social and armed conflict in the country. This event underlines the possibility of humanizing the armed conflict in Colombia.

We have heard the President of Colombia, Álvaro Uribe Vélez, talk of making a humanitarian agreement possible. We value this as a positive gesture related to the proposal presented by the FARC-EP, asking for such an offer to be made without any sort of conditions on either side.

We are convinced that these humanitarian events wouldn’t have happened without the perseverance and tenacity of the Senator Piedad Cordoba, together with Colombians for Peace, who have been on the side of the families of the kidnapped. Because of this we support the continuation of their work towards Peace.

We are aware that Colombians for Peace have been to prisons and recognized there the dehumanizing experience of the detained, because of this we understand and support the legitimate call to all parts in the conflict to make a humanitarian agreement as soon as possible.

We believe that taking a new step towards the humanization of the internal war through a humanitarian agreement, will help us arrive at a definitive way out from the social and armed conflict that has existed for so many years in Colombia.

With this ethical and historical perspective, once again we call on all the insurgency, to continue developing clear rules and making steps towards the humanization of the conflict. We call on the FARC-EP to make more gestures, and on the ELN to join this process, as we know they are already disposed, in the words of its Central Command that are in touch with Colombians for Peace, to progress with concrete actions of dialogue and the taking up of the principles of international humanitarian law, and the opening of a new hope for peace with justice.

Sincerely

*Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, Premio Nóbel de Paz, SERPAJ, Argentina*

*Francois Houtard, teólogo, sociólogo, director del Centro Tricontinental (CETRI), y miembro fundador del Foro Social Mundial, Bélgica*

*Mirta Baravalle; Madres de la Plaza de Mayo, Línea Fundadora, Argentina*

*Dr. Gilberto López y Rivas, Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Méjico*

*Sean Hawkey. Consejo Mundial de Iglesias; Gran Bretaña*

*Stephen Haymes, Universidad DePAul, EEUU*

*Mary Bricker-Jenkins, PhD, Miembro del Comité Internacional de Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign, EEUU*

*Carlos Fazio, periodista, investigador y catedrático de la UNAM; Méjico*

*Antoni Pigrau, profesor de derechos Internacional, Espai Catalunya-Comissió Ètica, España*

*Tica Font, Directora del Instituto Catalán Internacional para la Paz; Espai Catalunya-Comissió Ètica, España*

*Elizabeth Deligio, Observatorio de la Escuela de las Américas; EEUU*