The Fight to Abstain From Violence in Colombia
The Fight to Abstain From Violence in Colombia
Aug 4 2014
Nikki Drake
As he walked into the room, his face was tense and solemn. He had been here for over three months. His name is Jefferson Shayanne Acosta Ortiz, and we were at the army base in Saravena, Aruaca, one of the most dangerous departments in Colombia due to the ongoing conflict between the army and guerrilla groups.
Jefferson was recruited in April to fulfill his obligatory military service. During his recruitment, he expressed his objection to serve based on his religious and moral beliefs of non-violence. He officially declared himself a conscientious objector—meaning the refusal to perform military service—shortly thereafter, upon learning of the nationally and internationally recognized right. Two members of FOR Peace Presence made the 15-hour bus ride to visit Jefferson and meet with military officials as accompaniers of our partner organization Collective Action of Conscientious Objectors (ACOOC), which has been working on Jefferson’s case since his recruitment.
Although conscientious objection gained international attention during WWI as a fundamental right and political exercise to resist war, the practice was introduced in Colombia only as recently as 1989 as part of an effort by the Mennonite Church and the Collective for Conscientious Objection (COC). The biggest accomplishment by these two groups was their push to have the right to “Freedom of Conscience” included in the 1991 Colombian Constitution. The movement gradually secularized, and in 2000 individuals and entities such as COC, Just Peace, Colombian Working Youth, and the Foundation Growing Unity formed the Collective Action for Conscientious Objection in Colombia (ACOCC).
The present day ACOOC was created in 2009 as an organization focused on strategy and advocacy in its work toward the demilitarization of society and addressing the recruitment of youth by armed actors. In the same year, ACOOC, in coordination with the Swedish organization CIVIS and the Public Interest Group of the University of the Andes, played a large role in the decision by the Colombian Constitutional Court to ratify the fundamental right to object to military service for reasons of conscience. Despite the work of ACOOC and other organizations and networks throughout the country, the ideology and practice of conscientious objection are still largely unknown by the civilian population, and therefore widely unrecognized and often denied by the military.
More:
http://nacla.org/news/2014/8/4/fight-abstain-violence-colombia
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