Alirio
Uribe is a Colombian human rights lawyer who as president of the non-governmental
human rights organization, José Alvear Restrepo Lawyer’s Collective, was honored
with the 2003 Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders. He received this
prestigious award, which is given each year by a jury of eleven of the world's
leading human rights organizations, for his dedication to working for the victims
of human rights violations in Colombia despite the numerous death threats he has
received. Colombia has been plagued by internal conflicts for 40 years. Each year
paramilitary troops, often sanctioned by the government's armed forces, have caused
thousands of political killings and disappearances, and the displacement of hundreds
of thousands of people. Usually these crimes go unpunished. Because they are working
to seek justice and stop these human rights abuses, human rights workers are sometimes
the target of violence in Colombia. Despite this threat to their lives, human
rights workers like Alirio Uribe help to bring international attention to the
injustice in their country.
