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- CEJIL and Colombia’s Ombudsman’s Office Strengthen Cooperation on Human Rights
CEJIL and Colombia’s Ombudsman’s Office Strengthen Cooperation on Human Rights
Bogotá, Colombia, May 22, 2026. – CEJIL and Colombia’s Ombudsman’s Office (Defensoría del Pueblo) have signed a cooperation agreement to advance human rights protection in the country.
Colombia has taken on significant international human rights obligations under the American Convention on Human Rights, the Escazú Agreement, and key UN instruments. This partnership is designed to help translate those commitments into concrete public policies, institutional practices, and better protection for human rights defenders and communities.
What does this agreement cover?
Human rights defenders: Joint initiatives to protect defenders, including children and adolescents, and to build data systems that map violence against them to guide public policy.
Women’s rights: Actions to promote women’s equal access to justice and participation in decision‑making spaces, supported by regional exchanges of experiences and good practices.
Environmental rights: Measures to tackle the climate crisis and to advance the right to a healthy environment and the rights of nature, in line with the Escazú Agreement.
Access to justice: Support for victims of serious human rights violations in their pursuit of truth, justice, and reparation.
The Ombudsman’s Office is a constitutional body tasked with promoting, exercising, and disseminating human rights in Colombia. Partnering with an institution of this reach creates a powerful multiplier effect for the work ahead.
For CEJIL, this agreement is part of a broader strategy to strengthen key actors — state institutions and civil society alike — so that international human rights standards from the Inter‑American System and the UN system become a lived reality for people throughout the Americas.
