In Berne, Switzerland, on Monday Colombian Senator Piedad Cordoba asked the international community to support a “humanitarian exchange” of FARC hostages for incarcerated guerrillas, in order to achieve peace in Colombia.
“It is important that the international community understands the amplitude of the consequences of the armed conflict in Colombia,” she told press in the Swiss capital city.
Cordoba touched on the topics of forced displacement, “false positives,” and human rights abuses, especially in Colombian prisons, where she said “representatives of social movements rot, deprived of dignified processing by a right-wing state.”
The “Colombians for Peace” leader was invited to Switzerland by the Geneva Community for Trade Union Action and several NGOS. The senator also addressed a conference at the University of Geneva Monday evening.
Tuesday Cordoba will meet with representatives from the United Nation’s Commission on Human Rights, the International Committee of the Red Cross and European Inter-Parliamentary Union. She will wrap up her visit to Geneva with a press conference at the Geneva Community for Trade Union Action.
Cordoba is on a tour of Europe to campaign for international support for a humanitarian exchange, and to seek “a political solution to the conflict.”
As well as Switzerland, the humanitarian exchange advocate will visit Spain, France and Britain to rally support for her cause.
A potential humanitarian exchange appeared on the agenda after the FARC’s release of two hostages. Following the release, the FARC announced that they will not participate in any further unilateral hostage liberations but will only take part in prisoner exchanges.