Wednesday 8 April 2009

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The Lawyers’ Collective has experienced the following periods in its institutional history:

• In 1980, the Lawyers’ Collective acquired its legal registration, which means it is one of the first human rights organizations in Colombia. At this time, it was made up of male and female lawyers, but its General Assembly –the principal decision-making body- only included men. In 1993, the Lawyers’ Collective decided to enlarge the General Assembly by admitting two female lawyers in order to bring about the active participation of women in the organization’s decision-making processes.
• Since 1995, a training process for new lawyers was begun by contracting law students as legal assistants.
• In 1995, CCAJAR decided to incorporate the promotion and defense of economic, social, and cultural rights into its institutional work by implementing a vision of indivisibility, universality, and interdependence of all the categories of human rights.
• Since 1999, CCAJAR has strengthened its international work by establishing a specialized team and restructuring its work before inter-governmental supervision bodies, including the United Nations System, the Organization of American States (OAS), and the International Labor Organization (ILO). In this regard, it should be mentioned that the Lawyers’ Collective was granted consultative status before the OAS in November 2000.
• In 2001, in order to promote the issue of human rights in the different forms of media, a press office was created and a professional journalist joined CCAJAR.
• In 2002 and 2003, CCAJAR newly enlarged its work team in order to improve its institutional response to the needs of the beneficiaries as well as to deal with issues especially relevant for the defense, promotion, and protection of human rights (including such issues as Plan Colombia, the Free Trade Agreement, and the International Criminal Court). In 2003, two more women joined the General Assembly. In 2004, for the first time a woman became the president of the organization.
• In April 2006, the American Bar Association (ABA) honored lawyer Soraya Gutierrez Argüello with the International Human Rights Lawyer Award. Additionally, in May 2006, she was nominated to the shortlist for the Front Line Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk. These two awards demonstrate that the Lawyers’ Collective continues to be one of the principal Colombian human rights organizations for the national and international community.
• CCAJAR has been affiliated with the World Organization against Torture (OMCT) since 1991 and with the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) since 1994. It is also currently registered before the Organization of American States (OAS) and is in the process of acquiring consultative status before the United Nations.

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