Senior human rights lawyer to give Colombia talk to Faculty

 

ONE of the UK’s most prominent human rights lawyers has accepted an invitation to give a talk to the Faculty about the challenges of implementing peace in Colombia.

Kirsty Brimelow, QC, chairs the Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales, and has been involved in efforts to end conflict in the South American state. She is recently returned from a visit to assess the impact on the rural community of the peace accord between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc).

In spite of the agreement, a human rights activist or community leader is killed every three days in Colombia, and Ms Brimelow has titled her talk, “Defending Human Rights – Peace in Colombia: Another Magical Realism?”

She said: “Peace is a fragile concept. Transitional justice in Colombia sits alongside protests at the increase in killings in the rural parts of Colombia and the transitional justice framework is encountering a different political age. The newly-elected President has been active in his opposition to the peace agreement. If suffering and change are able to join hands, what does this mean for rural communities; for the farmers and indigenous people?”

The free event by the Faculty’s Human Rights and Rule of Law Committee is on Friday, 28 September, from 5pm, in the Faculty’s Mackenzie Building.

Full details and registration at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/defending-human-rights-peace-in-colombia-another-magical-realism-talk-by-kirsty-brimelow-qc-chair-tickets-49037484436