Kelly Nicholls Executive Director, US Office on Colombia Rotarian World Peace Fellow 2005-06

You may remember me, I am a Rotary World Peace Fellow and I spoke earlier in the year about the human rights work I'm doing in Colombia.

So many members approached me after that presentation with great interest in the work I'm doing and as such I write to see if your Rotary club would consider helping me with an important humanitarian project I am developing, which is linked to the very issues I discussed at the conference. The Rotarian recently published an article (which I include with this letter) on the work I am doing to promote respect for democracy and rule of law in Colombia – a country that has been in war for more than 440 years.

The US government has great influence in Colombia due to the considerable military and social aid it provides. The organization that I direct, the US Office on Colombia, works with US policymakers, civil society, church groups and the media to promote human rights, a healthy democracy and peace.

Recently the US Office on Colombia helped bring Flor Hilda Hernandez to Washington D.C. Two years ago her son, Elkin, was killed by the Colombian armed forces, dressed up in guerrilla fatigues and claimed as a death in combat. Flor Hilda's story is absolutely heartbreaking, but sadly she is not alone.

Indeed the United Nations has reported thousands of cases of innocent young men killed allegedly at the hands of members of the armed forces in nearly every department of Colombia. These killings are motivated by a perverse policy of rewarding soldiers and officers according to body counts.' While there are obviously many good, honest people serving and leading the Colombian armed forces, there are also those who commit these heinous crimes. I want to ensure those responsible for these killings are brought to justice and all incentives that lead to these crimes are removed, not only for the victims and their family, but also to regain trust in Colombia's army.

I can't bring my son back. He is below the ground now. But I stood at his grave and promised him that I won't stop until his name is cleared and those that killed him were brought to justice, even if it costs me my life." Those were Flor Hilda Herrnandez's words in one of many meetings she, her lawyer and I held with members of the U.S Congress and administration during her delegation to Washington to ask for the US government's help to push for justice for her son's assassination and that of thousands of other young men across Colombia.

Flor Hilda was showing photos of her son, who was 25 years-old when he went missing from the family home in January, 2008 in the poor municipality of Soacha, on the outskirts of the Colombian capital of Bogota. Flor Hilda told us that Elkin was her "right hand man". Since he was a child he was always trying to earn money to help support his mother and his four siblings as they struggled to get by.

When men came to Soacha, preying on poor young men and offering them work in another state, Elkin took the opportunity to earn some extra money to help his mother. She would never see him again. Elkin and the others were sold to army officers up to 500 miles away, who later killed them, dressing their bodies in military fatigues and claiming them to be a guerrilla killed in combat in order to get a body count'-driven job benefits and financial incentives.

I spent many hours during that delegation looking at the photo of that innocent and friendly-looking young man. I felt a mixture of heartache for this poor woman and her family and a deep, indignant anger that two years later those responsible for this crime remain free and unpunished. Indeed, military defense lawyers across the country make a joke out of justice, delaying cases beyond reason until the accused are released from jail. And once released from jail, these officers—accused of killing innocent civilians—receiveive a hero's welcome.

It is impossible to consolidate democracy and bring peace to Colombia with practices like these. I choose to stand by the victims and demand justice. And that's why I'm writing to ask for your Rotary Club's support.

The Colombian government has not prioritized this issue and is not likely to do so unless there is strong international pressure. And as Flor Hilda told me and many US policymakers during her time in D.C., she needs our help. USOC helps leverage the US government's influence in Colombia, which is hefty given US aid to Colombia and the prospect of trade agreements. But to do this, we must educate and press upon US policy makers the importance of their involvement.

The US Office on Colombia (USOC) has produced a report on the alarming levels of impunity for these crimes and also violence against human rights defenders in Colombia, which I'm sending you with this letter. We have formulated specific recommendations to US policymakers on how they can make a difference in Colombia. But, now we need to ensure this information and the recommendations are heard and taken up by the US government.

To do so we are planning specific activities, but need your help to make them possible:

	To educate the new Congress on this issue, we seek to bring a 2011 delegation of mothers and lawyers of the victims of these heinous killings to the United States.
	We hope to organize a Congressional hearing on this subject and attract widespread media coverage in Colombia and the US
	We will use creative new ways, such as email blasts of short documentaries, to bring widespread attention to this issue, mobilize US citizens to contact their representatives, and urge US policymakers to take up the recommendations
	We will continue to educate US policymakers on this issue via meetings at the State Department, USAID and Congress, and using memos and ongoing updates
	We will organize public events to educate US policymakers, the media, academics, religious groups and civil society organizations about this situation and urge them to promote the recommendations.

Will your Rotary club consider helping us to make this possible?

USOC operates on a shoe-string budgeting, achieving a remarkable amount with very little resources (as I told one Rotarian in Australia, you don't go into human rights if you want to become rich!). In order to do the work we propose, we desperately need more funds, but with just $5,000 we can carry out all of these activities. Will your club help us reach this goal?
Just as Flor Hilda stood at her son's grave promising him that she would fight until those responsible for his death were brought to justice, I, too, promised her that I would not relent until justice has been served. Will your Club help me?

Rotary has already done so much for me personally. Today, I would be very grateful for any assistance you can give me to help us fight for justice for all those young men, like Elkin, who have been unlawfully killed by the Colombian armed forces, and to fight for democracy and rule of law in this war-torn place.

If you have any questions at all, please let me know.

Thank you for your attention and consideration.

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