Advocacy is resistance: Navigating anti-LGBTQI+ violence in post-war Guatemala May 23, 2024 | Read more
Canadian coalition calls for urgent action to uphold civil liberties and Charter rights at protests and encampments across the country May 15, 2024 | Read more
Inter Pares joins call for Burma to end use of violence and respect democracy Feb 4, 2021 | Read more
Inter Pares welcomes Canada’s feminist realignment of international assistance Jun 9, 2017 | Read more
Round Table with Vigilance OGM: Agroecology, feminist approaches and the struggle against agrochemicals Oct 7, 2024 | Read more
Stopping the unstoppable: Citizen resistance to exterminator technology in Burkina Faso Sep 4, 2019 | Read more
The Immigrant Workers Centre to receive 2018 Peter Gillespie Social Justice Award Apr 18, 2018 | Read more
“Until We Find Them”: Searching for missing loved ones on the road to the North Mar 11, 2019 | Read more
Round Table with Vigilance OGM: Agroecology, feminist approaches and the struggle against agrochemicals Oct 7, 2024 | Read more
CALL FOR PARTICIPANTS | Inter Pares and SUWRA launch Canadian civil society working group on Sudan Jun 25, 2024 | Read more
Round Table with Vigilance OGM: Agroecology, feminist approaches and the struggle against agrochemicals Oct 7, 2024 | Read more
Advocacy is resistance: Navigating anti-LGBTQI+ violence in post-war Guatemala May 23, 2024 | Read more
Omar Fernández, Corporación Arazá voices : Share Print Omar Fernández is the Director of the Corporación Arazá, a Bogotá-based NGO working for social justice and the defense of human and environmental rights. Omar Fernández believes in the power of people. A highly respected human rights activist and leader, Omar has dedicated his life to strengthening social movements in Colombia. “I cannot rest in the face of social injustice,” says Omar. “I don’t believe one can remain indifferent when confronted by the suffering of people who are among the most vulnerable and oppressed.” Since its creation over a decade ago, the Corporación Arazá has worked with and provided support to grassroots groups that unite people from various social sectors, most notably rural peasant farmers and Indigenous and Afro-Colombian peoples. In a country with the most unequal land ownership in the world, many of these communities experience chronic violence and forced displacement. State policies have failed to address the root causes of endemic poverty in the countryside, favouring instead large landowners and agribusiness, and deepening rural poverty. The Corporación Arazá works to support marginalized people to defend their rights by helping them come together, share their lived experiences, analyse the factors that contribute to their exclusion, and develop joint strategies to address their common problems. This year, Inter Pares supported two such initiatives spearheaded by the Corporación Arazá. The first of these took place in September 2018, when delegates from 42 grassroots groups from across Colombia gathered to create a new national agrarian federation – the National Union of Rural Integration (UNIR). According to Omar, “the communities involved in this initiative saw the need to coordinate their efforts in order to have a real impact on public policies, and to access the public funds to which they are entitled. The creation of UNIR is an important step in strengthening the capacities and giving a stronger, united voice to sectors of the population that have been absolutely abandoned and historically excluded in Colombia.” The second initiative took place in November 2018 and brought together 30 leaders from ten Afro-Colombian communities located principally in the Southern Pacific region of Colombia. The focus of this gathering was to develop a joint action plan to advance Afro-Colombian communities’ rights both through their own initiatives and as part of UNIR. Omar believes that transformative change must come from the grassroots. He explains, “rights have never been won through the generosity of the ruling classes but, rather, by the action of social movements. I believe in a better future for all and I will never lose hope of reaching a society that is governed by solidarity, mutual cooperation and the pursuit of common good.” Learn more The Power of the People: Omar’s Story Add new comment You must have JavaScript enabled to use this form. Your name Comment * Save Leave this field blank