Best Practice Forum Colombia
In June 2024 we run a 3 day Best Practice Forum in Bogota, Colombia entitled: “Sharing Experiences of Judicial and non Judicial Strategies to Confront Corporate Abuse” jointly hosted with Colombian partner CAJAR.
The Forum was attended by 41 grassroots leaders from indigenous, Afro-descendant and peasant farmer communities representing thousands of community members from 15 departments across the Colombian context and a leader from the Suriname country. The participants were carefully selected on the basis of the complexities and impact of their cases and their legal needs.
It took place in Bogota between the 10th-12th June and created a practical hands-on space for across jurisdictions exchanges and discussion of judicial and non-judicial strategies to strengthen the resilience of Indigenous, Afro-descendant and peasant farmer communities. It counted on the pro bono participation of more than 15 legal experts from the Global South/North and offered the possibility of tapping into networks, access to new knowledge and renewed confidence/hope to advance legal processes. It acted as a network builder amongst grassroots leaders attending creating links and synergies between local, national and international legal experts/grassroots communities to explore collaborative actions and maximise the impact of their legal approaches. It contributed to shift grassroots perspectives by offering a broad range of legal options and tools (judicial and non judicial) available for them to consider when developing their legal strategies. It shared and expanded knowledge through the creation of an online Virtual Forum that now allow their members further access to some of the presentations and recorded sessions from the discussions.
The methodology we used for the sessions was mostly participatory with contributions from expert speakers (from Colombia, Latin America and Internationally). The sessions were interactive, practical and were aimed at exploring legal strategies and identifying solutions to problems on the ground. Legal Clinics were hosted and designed by grassroots leaders in the afternoons to discuss their reactions to the presentations and enabling exchange of local legal strategies. The key themes and topics of the Forum took into consideration the local context and the legal needs of the beneficiaries.
The Forum images can be found together with a full programme in English and Spanish following the links below.
In English:
In Spanish:
Topics and themes
From our consultations with grassroots activists and organisations, we have identified a set of pertinent topics and themes that will guide the activities of the Best Practice Forum. Click on each topic to learn more:
Corporate Governance, Accountability, Human Rights and Environmental Due Diligence
Using Foreign Courts to Access Justice
Research Tools for Gathering and Presenting Evidence
Building a Legal Case and Requesting Information
Register your interest
Whether you are a lawyer with expertise in the field of environmental law, corporate accountability or climate justice, or you are a grassroots rights defender seeking to explore new legal approaches and build your legal resilience, please get in touch and express your interest.
