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Comité Permanente por la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos

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Areas of expertise & Fields of activity:	Economic and Social: Human Rights Humanitarian Affairs Justice
Geographic scope:	National
Country of activity:	Colombia
Mission statement:	We are a nongovernmental organization with local and regional branch offices, dedicated to the defense, promotion, and protection of human rights and to the respect of the civil population in the middle of the Colombian armed conflict. We work with local organizations, promoting and organizing the national social movement for the defense of human rights and the fight against impunity. We are also involved in the national peace initiatives for a negotiated political solution to the conflict. We seek a Colombia in which the social sectors are organized in a national movement capable of preventing, registering, and denouncing human rights violations and infractions of international humanitarian law. We seek a Colombia where local organizations in the different regions are empowered and have the capacity to autonomously defend human rights in their own territory. And we seek a Colombia that has achieved a peaceful solution to the armed conflict, with social justice and the participation of civil society. The organization's objectives are to: promote and facilitate the organized participation of civil society at local, regional, and national levels for the application and defense of human rights and peace; register, systematize, analyze, and spread information about violations of human rights and democratic liberties; offer accompaniment and protection to victims and their families; denounce, advise, accompany, and litigate strategic cases in the framework of the fight against impunity; propitiate the intervention of the international community in acting to validate the integrality of human rights in the country; and to influence the definition, construction, and application of national public policy in the area of human rights. The fundamental values of the CPDH are: solidarity, independence, autonomy, unity of civil society, interdisciplinarity, integrality, humanism, and democracy.
Year established:	1979
Year of registration:	1985
Organizational structure:	The administration and operations of the CPDH are managed by the Board of Directors, which is composed of a Director, a Subdirector, Executive Secretary, Treasurer and five board members. The organizational headquarters are located in Bogotá, D.C., but there are 14 branch offices in different regions across the country. The branches operate in coordination with the central office, but can develop their own legal capacity, and maintain administrative and financial autonomy. Some of the branches operate as platforms, without physical offices.
Number and type of members:	The current payroll members of the CPDH are two lawyers, one assistant, and two secretaries. There are approximately 20 volunteers working for the Bogotá office as staff members. The 14 regional branch offices are directed and staffed by volunteers.
Affiliation with NGO networks:	FIDH (Int'l Federation of Human Rights), MOVICE (National Movement for Victims of State Crimes), CCEEU (Coordination Colombia Europe United States), Asamblea Permanente de la Sociedad Civil por la Paz (Permanent Assembly of Civil Society for Peace)
Funding structure:	Funds from other Non-Governmental Organizations Other sources Donations and grants from domestic sources
Funding structure other:	Earnings from litigation

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