Colombia Human Rights Activity Annual Work Plan

Entering Fiscal Year 2021, HRA faces unique challenges in its efforts to support human rights and peacebuilding in Colombia. The security situation in remote areas with a history of armed conflict remains complicated for vulnerable groups, including Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities, campesinos, women, LGBTI people, youth, journalists, and human rights defenders and social leaders. The COVID-19 pandemic and nationwide lockdown measures have exacerbated existing inequalities by region, gender, class, and ethnicity, and have catalyzed trends towards renewed armed conflict in post-accord Colombia. In this context, HRA enters FY21 with a heightened sense of urgency to support Colombia's government and vulnerable residents by increasing their capacity to work together to promote and protect human rights. HRA's nine regional offices will continue to support initiatives that promote human rights and prevent and respond to violations in 45 priority municipalities in eight departments. In August 2020, USAID approved a one-year extension to HRA's contract that defines new strategic objectives until the program's end date, which is now April 4, 2022. During this period, HRA will place increased emphasis on initiatives to protect human rights defenders and social leaders and prevent and respond to gender-based violence. In addition to its existing regional coverage, HRA will introduce satellite coverage in the Chocó and La Guajira departments with grants, technical assistance from regional advisors in nearby departments, and expert consultants engaged to support departmental governments. In Chocó, HRA will focus on protecting human rights defenders and social leaders and preventing the recruitment and exploitation of minors. In La Guajira, HRA will focus on the rights of the indigenous communities and migrants near the border with Venezuela. HRDSL protection and de-stigmatization will be a priority for HRA in FY21. In January – August 2020, 204 human rights defenders and social leaders were murdered, including 68 in HRA priority municipalities. Ethnic community leaders are at especially high risk: 41% of human rights defenders and social leaders killed in this period were Afro-Colombian or indigenous. To this end, HRA will work with civil society organizations, the National Protection Unit, National Police, Ministry of the Interior, Ombudsman's Office, Attorney General's Office, and departmental and municipal governments to improve collective protection and self-protection strategies for vulnerable populations. HRA will empower human rights defenders and social leaders in priority regions to more effectively advocate for the rights of their communities by including them in human rights education initiatives, providing technical assistance to strengthen their organizational and advocacy capacities, and awarding grants to the grassroots CSOs they lead. HRA will also continue to produce content for the inter-institutional Lidera La Vida communication platform to promote human rights and peacebuilding in Colombia. The HRA program will continue to implement adapted strategies developed in the second half of FY20 and develop new activities with the health and safety of staff, partners, and beneficiaries in mind. HRA will increase efforts to transfer capacity to institutional and civil society partners to ensure the sustainability of the human rights and peacebuilding initiatives it supports.