Forum | Taiwan Premiere of Nos están matando (They're Killing Us) | The Life-or-Death Choices of Colombian Human-Rights Defenders

Harassment, silencing, threats, repression, torture, killing, and enforced disappearance-these are risks human-rights lawyers in Colombia may face from the moment they wake up.
What have they done that brings violence to their doorsteps?
More importantly, what allows them to keep going?

With the directors' permission, this event presents the Taiwan premiere of a Chinese-subtitled version of the documentary Nos están matando (They're Killing Us). The film follows two prominent Colombian social leaders: Feliciano Valencia, an Indigenous Nasa leader and land-rights activist, and Héctor Marino Carabalí, an Afro-Colombian community leader working to establish the community self-protection group known as the Cimarron Guard. Despite death threats and constant danger, the film shows both men continuing their work while reassuring their families: "I'm fine. Don't worry."

Two Colombian lawyers, Gloria Silva and Sebastián Escobar, will appear by video this Saturday evening to speak directly to audiences in Taiwan. They will discuss how a country devastated by the drug wars of the 1980s and 1990s and once described as one of the world's most dangerous changed after the 2016 peace agreement between President Juan Manuel Santos's government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), and why human-rights defenders nevertheless remain in danger.

To provide broader context, we invited Shih Ya-Ju, Associate Professor at Tzu Chi University's College of International and Cross-Cultural Studies, to give a short introduction to the political and economic history of Latin America and Colombia. Her research addresses Latin American culture, economics, and Indigenous rights, with particular attention to countries including Colombia, Mexico, and Spain.

January 24 is the Day of the Endangered Lawyer, an international observance initiated by Dutch human-rights lawyer Hans Gaasbeek. Each year the campaign highlights lawyers in a particular country; past focus countries have included Azerbaijan, Turkey, China, and the Philippines. In 2022, the focus is Colombia. To mark the occasion, this Saturday's premiere and forum for *Nos están matando (They're Killing Us)* invites audiences in Taiwan to pay attention to the dangers faced by Colombian human-rights lawyers.

Online Registration

Time

January 22, 2022 (Sat.), 19:00-20:45

Location

Left Bank Books (No. 3-1, Zhenjiang St., Zhongzheng Dist., Taipei City)

Speakers / Discussants

Sebastián Escobar and Gloria Silva / Colombian Attorneys (video participation)
Shih Ya-Ju / Associate Professor, College of International and Cross-Cultural Studies, Tzu Chi University 

Agenda

19:00-19:05 - Introduction
19:05-19:30 - Documentary Screening: *Nos están matando (They're Killing Us)*
19:30-19:50 - Political and Economic Context in Latin America and Colombia
19:50-20:10 - Video Presentation by Colombian Attorneys Gloria Silva and Sebastián Escobar
20:10-20:30 - Q&A and Closing Remarks

Organizer

Judicial Reform Foundation