Demands government to take action

– We plan to rally outside the Colombian Embassy on Thursday, where we will present a symbolic declaration demanding that the government in Colombia take responsibility for the students’ safety, says Mona Wærnes of the Socialist Youth League of Norway (SU).

Last week, Universitas wrote of Colombian student politicians who are currently receiving death threats due to their political engagement in the organisation Asociación Colombiana de Estudiantes Universitarios (Aceu). Diego Marín, the president of the organisation, recently spent one and a half months in Norway, where he also participated at the National Union of Students in Norway’s National Assembly.

– Marín is in charge of the organisation which the Colombia Campaign is cooperating with, and he is also coordinating the work to evaluate the seriousness of the threats these students are receiving, Wærnes informs.

It is Aceu who has invited Rød Front, the socialist student organisation at the University of Oslo, as well as other youth organisations in Norway, to join in on the solidarity campaign in order to show support with the student movement in Colombia. Their objective is to raise awareness of the human rights situation in Colombia, as well as establishing a more powerful student organisation.

The Colombian Embassy has refused to comment until they have received the declaration but have confirmed that Thursday’s appeal and the presentation of the declaration are all clarified with the embassy.