Friday 30th April – From 17.30 to 19.30 Towards Trento City in Defence of – Second part “For a global justice: instruments and initiatives”
Instruments and solutions in Italy and Europe for fostering mechanisms of defence for Human Rights Defenders (HRD). The movement and territorial fights and the connections with the institutions for human rights.
After having analysed the criminalisation of solidarity in Italy, and the endless tragedy of the migrants drowning in the Mediterranean – to which we dedicated the first part of the seminar – we now analyse a concrete case, that is the political genocide that is occurring in Colombia: an endless massacre that is victimising women and men committed in the peacebuilding and the defence of territories and common resources. Colombia is a country with which Yaku and the In Difesa Di’s Trentino hub have a special connection and focus.
For this reason, beginning from our work in the field, from the shared fights and the relationship of political and human reciprocity with the Colombian resisting communities, we want to build a path of re-thinking of the international cooperation’s mechanisms, which must be put in connection with the new global political perspectives, starting from the health crisis caused by the pandemic, but especially for all the crisis – ecological, humanitarian, social, democratic – connected to it.
Yohana Lopez of the Interecclesial Commission of Justicia y Paz Colombia – an organisation committed to the accompaniment of communities in conflict areas and the construction of humanitarian areas for the protection of the indigenous, peasants and Afro-descendants communities for over 30 years – will be with us. Together with her, there will be present Francesca Nugnes of Peace Brigades International (PBI), and Simona Fraudatario of the Permanent Peoples Tribunal, which is dealing with writing the next session of the Tribunal dedicated to the political genocide in Colombia.
In the second part of the seminar, “From the local institutions to Europe: concrete actions for a City in Defence Of”, we will explore the mechanisms that the European Union makes available for the human rights defenders in danger. This part will be introduced by Selene Greco of Un Ponte Per, with the guests Natalia Biffi and Manuel J. Pérez Galé of the Spanish organisation REDS- Solidariedad Para La Transformacion Social (Barcelona), and Laura Battistin – Head of Secretariat at ProtectDefenders.eu (EU Mechanism for Human Rights Defenders).
Being “In Defense Of” means being at the side of defender and defenders of human and environmental rights, in the world and Italy: hundreds of activists, teachers, lawyers, journalists, communitarian and indigenous leaders are threatened and killed every day for their political activities.
Anyone that is fighting for a just cause and is threatened or killed due to that needs solidarity and concrete actions. For this reason also in Italy, and in Trentino as well, we have activated among civil society and institutions for the construction of spaces and programmes for being at the side of who defends everybody and nature’s rights.
PROGRAM
AL FIANCO DELLE RESISTENZE COLOMBIANE PER UNA NUOVA COOPERAZIONE
- Solidarietà internazionale per una giustizia globale. Con il Nodo Trentino In Difesa Di
- Solidarietà minacciata in Colombia. Con Yohana Lopez, Presidente Commissione Interecclesiale di Justicia y Paz Colombia
- L’azione di Peace Brigades International in Colombia. Con Francesca Nugnes, PBI Colombia
- Il “Genocidio Colombiano” – Simona Fraudatario – Tribunale Permanente dei Popoli
DAGLI ENTI LOCALI ALL’EUROPA: AZIONI CONCRETE PER UNA CITTÀ IN DIFESA DI
- L’impegno della Rete In Difesa Di in Europa; le connessioni con l’ANCI, gli enti locali e il Centro Diritti Umani di Padova. Con Selene Greco, Un Ponte Per
- Verso un osservatorio europeo di “Città in Difesa Di”. Con Natalia Biffi, REDS- Solidariedad Para la Transformacion Social (Barcelona)
- Manuel J. Pérez Galé – Cap de la Unitat de Cooperació, Solidaritat, Pau, Mediació i Restauració Comunitària – Ajuntament de Sant Boi de LlobregatEsperienze di accoglienza di Human Rights Defenders nella Rete delle Città Catalane – Spagna
- Meccanismi per persone difensore dei diritti umani in EU, con Laura Battistin – PROTECT DEFENDERS
The Rete In Difesa Di – composed of 40 Italian organisations – has been committed for years in collaboration and support with the HRDs from all over the world, that is with who is committed to the defence and promotion of environmental and human rights.
The Trentino hub of the Rete In Difesa Di is committed since 2018 to the construction of Trento City in Defence Of. Since 2020, the Centro per la Cooperazione Internazionale of Trento has received the mandate by the municipality of Trento for being institutional representative of this process.
The participant organisations have never renounced to the denounce of the causes of violence and human rights violations in the territories, examining the strict connection among the extractivist system and the hoarding of resources with gender issues, free information, free thought.
With this last seminar – realised in collaboration with Yaku, Centro di Ateneo per I Diritti Umani dell’Università di Padova, Terra Nuova, Un Ponte Per, with the support of the Otto per Mille of the Chiesa Valdese and the Autonomous Province of Trento – we want to add some pieces to the complex mosaic in which we move when we talk about the defence of human rights defenders (HRD – Human Rights defenders), to promote Human Rights and global justice, starting from cultural diversity and the fight against discrimination, promoting transformative socio-economic alternatives.
