Just released--the second edition of “A Prophetic Call,” a report on violations of human rights and international humanitarian law against Protestant and Evangelical Churches.
COLOMBIAN CHURCHES DOCUMENT THEIR SUFFERING AND THEIR HOPE

Bogotá, September 17, 2007. Wednesday, March 12th Justapaz—the Christian Center for Justice, Peace and Nonviolent Direct Action, and the Peace Commission of the Evangelical Council of Colombia (CEDECOL), released the second edition of “A Prophetic Call: Colombian Churches Document Their Suffering and Their Hope,” which synthesizes the sociopolitical violence suffered by evangelical and Protestant churches in the context of the ongoing armed conflict in Colombia.

This second report documents violations of human rights and international humanitarian law committed against evangelicals and Protestants in Colombia. It also highlights several significant social and peacebuilding initiatives undertaken by these communities as contributions towards a non-military solution to the armed conflict.

The information compiled in the report is based on field-work carried out by coordinators of the Documentation and Advocacy Program and regional team members. These program volunteers were trained to gather essential data on each case in their community, the biblical basis for documentation and advocacy, and accompaniment of traumatized victims. They interviewed war victims, pastors and church members to register violations of human rights and international humanitarian law. This primary source information was centralized in Justapaz where program staff reviewed and corroborated the reports with secondary sources and, lastly, registered the accounts in a specialized database.

During the report period of 2006, 16 homicides of people related to churches around the country were registered. One hundred and forty-seven people received threats, 103 men, women and children were forcibly displaced from their homes, and a significant number of people were victims of torture, threats, and attacks on civilian goods. The various parties to the conflict—guerrilla, paramilitary and State armed forces—are responsible for these human rights violations committed against members of more than 21 different churches and denominations.

This report offers testimonies and highlights the right of churches to participate in government processes to promote peace, as provided for in the Colombian Constitution. To address the underlying factors that both cause and allow this unacceptable violence to continue, the churches call for targeted changes in Colombian, U.S., Canadian and European policy. The report also spells out internal initiatives needed to restore Colombia’s social fabric and hope for cooperative development.

The production of this report was possible thanks to the support of international church agencies that support this ministry: Mennonite Central Committee, Christian Solidarity, Diakonia—Swedish Ecumenical Action, Kairos Canada and Church World Service.

MEDIA CONTACTS: Janna Hunter-Bowman, Justapaz Documentation and Advocacy Program Coordinator: janna@justapaz.org cell phone: 57 (300) 364.9102. Paul Stucky, Justapaz Program Coordinator: pablo@justapaz.org, 57 (300) 557-2894. Jenny Neme, Justapaz Director (Spanish only): jennyneme@justapaz.org phone: 57 (300)557-3102. Ricardo Esquivia, CEDECOL´s Peace Commission National Coordinator (Spanish only): resquivia@gmail.com phone: 57 (313) 555-4404.