Dying in Pain in the Global South
All of us, at one point, have been close to the pain of a loved one: a grandmother with cancer at home, a father at the oncological care unit, a brother ongoing sessions of radio and/or chemotherapy.
Read MoreMulti-Ethnic Peace
It seems that the negotating table in Habana agreed to meet with representatives of indigenous and afro-descendant communities in the next days, after many requests from these groups.
Read MoreUniversity and Society
Some three weeks ago I wrote about the confusions that exists in many universities in Colombia (starting with the Catholic ones) between politics, religion, and academia.
Read MoreWar against Hunger?
Thirty three children have died from hunger this year in Colombia, doubly forgotten: first by the government and then by citizens and the media.
Read MoreCivil Matrimony as Shared Public Space
The Court must determine what reasons justify, in our world today, same-sex couple’s prohibition to accessing civil matrimony.
Read MoreThis Isn’t Santos’ Peace
Recently, we have heard many voices against putting the peace agreement to a popular vote. Some of them are political while others have a constitutional argument. Nevertheless, the popular vote isn’t some whim of the president, it is above all else a direct development of the Constitution.
Read MoreReconciliation through the Environment
El proceso de paz de Colombia debería aprender de ejemplos internacionales que hacen uso de la gestión y restauración del medio ambiente como herramientas útiles para promover y reforzar el diálogo y la confianza en situaciones de posconflicto.
Read MoreLessons from the Judicial Strike
Although on Friday courts re-opened, the judiciary’s structural problems persist without real solutions: judges and stuff, alongside government bodies, are responsible for improvising the implementation of reforms.
Read MoreThe Public Prosecutor and the Peace Agreement’s Popular Vote
The General Public Prosecutor asked the Court that it declare the so-called plesbiscite to put the peace agreement to a popular vote unconstitutional. His argument is that the possiblity of submitting this agreement to a binding citizen vote ignores that the President has complete competency to negotiate peace and that the Constitution does not require the peace agreement be put to a popular vote.
Read MoreInvisible Tragedies
Last week I wrote about my father’s death who was run over by a motorcyle that shattered his skull when he was walking on San Juan street in Medellín.
Read MoreWhat the Kichwa People of Sarayaku Leave Behind
What do the Kichwa People of Sarayaku leave behind?
Read MoreGovernment, companies and medicine prices
With technical rigour and political courage, the Health Ministry is facing the powerful lobby of pharmaceutical companies and is establishing a roof for exorbitant prices of drugs.
Read MoreVictims, rights and peace
We have to build a vision of the peace process that respects and is sensitive to victims’ rights. But, at the same time, we have to advance toward a vision of victims’ rights, which is sensitive to the demands and possibilities of a peace process.
Read MoreThe Roberts court: one stepforward, several steps back
In reality, there has been an exception to the Roberts-led court,which has tended to disregard vulnerable groups’ rights, while defending the privileges of the powerful.
Read MoreHuman Rights: one step forward, one step back
Government Santos has given human rights the attention that its predecessor had neglected them.
Read MoreA ruling that is a bit sophisticated
A sentence of the Constitutional Court will be useful to stop the ‘advanced’ strategies of land accumulation.
Read MoreA newspaper page is enough…
Last Tuesday, President Santos announced that it would reduce the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights´term in our country, with the argument that Colombia “has advanced sufficiently” not to need any “more United Nations human rights offices”.
Read MoreColombia: World’s champion in the price of medicine?
The Sunday news report written by Juan Gossaín unleashed a heated debate regarding the prices of medications and what the Ministry of Health is doing to regulate them. The temperature increased when Minister Alejandro Gaviria and some journalists tweeted against Gossaín (“bad literature as substitute to bad journalism”, was one of the accusations.)
Read MoreThe criminal populism of the General Inspector
The Inspector General and some leftist populist strands have one thing in common: trying to win plaudits from citizens through attractive-sounding measures, but these are impossible to achieve or are counterproductive.
Read MorePrioritization and the criminal justice system
The discussion on whether the Prosecutor’s Office should focus on investigating certain crimes rather than others is important and difficult. But it does have a reasonable solution.
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