In the two years following the signing of the peace agreement with the FARC, more than 200 murders of social leaders and human rights defenders have been reported in Colombia. This violence not only endangers the consolidation of peace in affected territories, but also risks reactivating the armed conflict. A common feature across these contexts is the absence of effective mechanisms for collaboration between companies, civil society, and the State in the prevention of violence.

Research conducted by CREER on the private sector’s role in both conflict and peacebuilding has identified four critical challenges that require urgent attention from businesses, the State, and civil society:

1. Lack of collaborative mechanisms to overcome local dynamics of violence.
2. Slow progress in implementing the non-judicial aspects of Transitional Justice, including truth, reconciliation, and guarantees of non-repetition.
3. Weak local mechanisms for the protection of social leaders and human rights defenders.
4. Prejudices that hinder the legitimate inclusion of the private sector as an actor in the prevention of and non-repetition of human rights violations.

In response, CREER is committed to contributing to peacebuilding and the protection of leaders and defenders by advancing the business and human rights agenda. This includes promoting dialogue among stakeholders and across territorial levels to identify challenges and propose innovative approaches for private sector engagement in the protection of social leaders and human rights defenders.

CREER’s strategy also includes the development of tools and models to help companies integrate risks of violence against leaders into their human rights due diligence processes. These resources are intended to be useful not only for businesses operating in Colombia but also in other regions of the world where violence against leaders and defenders remains a pressing concern.

Throughout 2017 and the first half of 2018, CREER has made progress toward this goal through targeted projects and initiatives, achieving the following:

1. Multi-stakeholder dialogues in four regions of the country (Cesar, Meta, Valle del Cauca, and Magdalena Medio), where safety and the protection of life—especially that of social leaders and defenders—was identified and prioritized as a shared concern among local actors.
2. Development of a guide to support the articulation of companies with institutional response mechanisms for threats against social leaders and defenders.
3. Joint declaration condemning violence against leaders and expressing a shared commitment from companies, civil society, and the State to collaborate in their protection. Signatories include four coal mining companies, national authorities from the sector, the Ministry of the Interior (responsible for the national human rights policy), the Presidential Advisory Office for Human Rights (leader of the National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights), and territorial authorities.
4. Commitment from the Coal and Human Rights Working Group to collaborate with CREER in the development and implementation of a protocol for early warnings and urgent measures in cases of threats to the life and personal integrity of social leaders.

CREER’s approach to this line of work is grounded in the understanding that preventing the recurrence of violence requires changes in social behaviors—not only in the actions of perpetrators. Based on this premise, and building on the progress made, CREER is developing a program aimed at establishing a model for private sector collaboration in the protection of social leaders and human rights defenders. This model will be evidence-based, aligned with territorial challenges and opportunities, and will provide practical tools and resources for companies of various sectors and sizes.