A recent raid on the offices of the Inter-Congregational Commission for Justice and Peace, located in the Teusaquillo district of Bogota, has sparked numerous protests.

At around 1 pm on Wednesday May 13, officials of Bogota's Regional Prosecutor's Office, accompanied by 20 members of the Special Counterinsurgency Forces attached to the 18th army brigade, raided the Justice and Peace offices.

According to spokesmen at the Public Prosecutor's office, the raid was ordered by a senior military officer, who claimed that this prestigious NGO harboured supporters of the National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrillas. However, the raid was called off when these accusations proved unfounded.

According to officials quoted in the daily newspaper El Espectador, the prosecutor in charge of the case called off the raid, arguing that "the objective (targeted by) military intelligence was mistaken". The national media and representatives of national and international NGOs also denounced other irregularities in this operation.

While officials at the Prosecutor's Office drafted the legal document, the army unit searched the building, intimidated staff and, "behind the prosecutor's back, videotaped all the people present". The soldiers also prevented representatives of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and of the Office of the People's Ombudsman from gaining access to the building.

The Inter-Congregational Commission for Justice and Peace is a prominent human rights organization which for many years has taken a leading role in the defence of massacre victims and their relatives in several cases which have shocked the country. Some of the most important cases include the 1990 massacre in Trujillo, Valle, and an investigation into paramilitary activities in the Chucuri area of the Magdalena Medio region, in central Colombia.

During the past year, Justice and Peace has been implementing a project to assist displaced people in the municipality of Turbo, in Urabá, Antioquia. With support from various international cooperation agencies, Justice and Peace built a temporary camp to accommodate a large number of victims who sought shelter in Turbo, in the wake of violent paramilitary incursions and indiscriminate army bombardments during the first months of 1997 in the municipality of Riosucio, Choco.

Another important Justice and Peace initiative is the Data Bank Project, implemented jointly with the Centre for Research and Popular Education (CINEP). The aim of this project is to compile statistics on human rights violations and infractions against International Humanitarian Law. Justice and Peace is also leading the "Never Again" ("Nunca Mas") project, an investigation by various NGOs into crimes against humanity committed in Colombia since the 1970's.

Father Javier Giraldo, priest and Secretary General of the Commission, has won several international awards for his work, including the John Humphrey International Human Rights Prize, recently presented by the Centre for the Development of Democracy in Canada.

In recent weeks, NGOs in Colombia have expressed grave concern over the wave of violent killings and attacks on human rights activists, including the assassination of prominent lawyer and human rights leader Eduardo Umaña Mendoza, and that of retired general Fernando Landazabal Reyes. The NGOs have also rejected all forms of intimidation against those engaged in the protection and defence of human rights in communities affected by the country's internal conflict.

May 19: National Day Against Impunity

In response to the ongoing violence, preparations are under way for the National Day Against Impunity on Tuesday, May 19, to mark the first anniversary of the assassination of CINEP researchers Mario Calderon and Elsa Alvarado. In addition to various lectures and discussions on impunity, a number of demonstrations and symbolic acts have also been planned, culminating in an afternoon "Concert for Life" in the Plaza Bolivar, Bogota. Parallel events are being organized in other Colombian cities and in other countries.

The activities are being organized by CINEP with support from numerous organizations and individuals who in April formed the Broad Social Front for Life. This alliance is demanding an end to the dirty war and is calling for an immediate distension of the armed conflict.

Mario Calderon and Elsa Alvarado were assassinated on May 19, 1997, by armed men who burst into their apartment and began shooting indiscriminately, in front of the couple's three year-old son. Elsa's father, Carlos Alvarado, was also shot dead in the attack.