Tactics and tools for the protection
of Human Rights Defenders

23 September 2011

Human rights defender Ms Claudia Julieta Duque has been informed of alleged plans within the Military Intelligence Department to carry out attacks against her. Claudia Julieta Duque is a journalist and works as a correspondent with the Equipo Nizkor and Radio Nizkor in Colombia, and is a former member of the Federación Colombiana de Periodistas – Fecolper (Colombian Federation of Journalists) and of the directive board of the Unión de Periodistas de Bogotá – UPB (Journalists Union of Bogotá). She is an honorary member of the National Union of Journalists of the United Kingdom and Ireland, and of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ). Claudia Julieta Duque has been the target of intimidation, harassment, threats and surveillance since 2001. In January 2004, the Protection Programme for Journalists, under the direction of the Minister of the Interior, extended her protection measures, while in November 2009, the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights granted her precautionary measures in order to guarantee her safety.

Further Information

In recent days Claudia Julieta Duque has been informed by reliable sources that the Military Intelligence Department has issued orders to carry out an attack against her person. On 22 August 2011 former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe Vélez accused Claudia Julieta Duque and Mr Juan Forero, Andean region correspondent for the Washington Post, of being terrorist sympathizers and accomplices of leftist guerrillas. The baseless accusation followed the publication on 21 August 2011 of an article in the Washington Post, co-authored by the two journalists, that alleged that President Uribe may have been involved in illegal actions using the Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad - DAS (Administrative Security Department), with the help of the United States.

Claudia Julieta Duque has been publicly branded an “extreme left activist” while other social networks have claimed that her articles were written by the secretary of the FARC. A memorandum was circulated some time ago calling for the psychological torture of both Claudia Julieta Duque and her daughter.

As an investigative journalist, Claudia Julieta Duque has published articles on the killing of journalists Jaime Garzón Forero in August 2009, and Clodomiro Castilla in 2010. Claudia Julieta Duque has also denounced surveillance and persecution of human rights defenders, magistrates, journalists, and trade unionists perpetrated by a criminal division working from within the DAS.

Front Line reiterates its grave concern for the physical and psychological integrity of Claudia Julieta Duque in light of information received that she is the target of a planned violent attack which is allegedly being orchestrated from within the Military Intelligence Department. Front Line believes that Claudia Julieta Duque is being targeted solely as a result of her legitimate human rights work, in particular her work as an investigative journalist who has published articles detailing human rights violations perpetrated by the State.