Programs
COLOMBIA
Persevering While Activating Substantiated Claims to Justice
In 2016, after a 50-year war, the Government of Colombia, and the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia - Ejército del Pueblo (FARC-EP) signed a peace agreement with a view to end the armed conflict and build a lasting peace. This led to the creation of the Integral System for Peace, composed by the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (SJP), the Truth, Coexistence, and Non-Repetition Commission, and the Special Unit for the Search of Missing Persons, all aimed at fulfilling victims’ rights.
​
Since 2017, the G37 Centre has been working closely with ethnic and peasant communities in Northern Cauca, Buenaventura, Montes de María and Putumayo to reinvigorate their pursuit of accountability for the crimes committed during the war. These territories are currently under investigation by the SPJ (cases no. 03, 05, 08, and 09). Hence, our team continues to provide these communities with methodological and technical support to facilitate their effective participation in these proceedings. This work involves conducting field research and creating community educational spaces to clearly communicate the SPJ’s key decisions. We provide technical and methodological support to help them react to such decisions and prepare for hearings with the magistrates.
Our work is characterized by providing continuous and consistent support, catalyzing processes that extend beyond the SPJ and are relevant to the people we work with. This support is notable for its reliance on collaborative methodologies, allowing us to tailor it to local realities. One of the clearest impacts of our work has been the skills and capacities that these communities have acquired today.
NICARAGUA
Recording Abuse to Strengthen Accountability Demands by Nicaraguans
In April 2018, Nicaraguans across the country protested against the rampant abuse of power. The government quashed these mass demonstrations with excessive force, resulting in hundreds of deaths, arbitrary imprisonments and torture. The human rights crisis continues to deteriorate. President Daniel Ortega’s concentration of power has enabled severe abuses against critics with impunity. The government has revoked the legal status of thousands of NGOs and enacted laws that severely restrict the civic space, causing tens of thousands to flee the country in fear of persecution.
​
Our work in Nicaragua focuses on investigating, collecting evidence, documenting, cross-referencing and analyzing these events as well as other alleged human rights violations committed from 2018 through our tailored information system. Connecting events by occurrence, region, alleged perpetrators and victimized individuals, our system allows us to map repressive structures within power; identify and comprehend local dynamics of repression and abuse of power, including the identification of those most responsible, their alliances and rewards system; and events and unlawful acts evidentiary of State co-optation. Our objective is to strengthen the social demand for justice, promote the rights of victims, and ultimately drive accountability actions related to these violations.
HONDURAS & EL SALVADOR
Understanding the Effect of “Time-Gone-By” on Accountability Claims, and Effectively Adjusting
Honduras and El Salvador have addressed the legacy of atrocities committed over 30 years ago in diametrically different ways. However, denial about what happened remains prevalent in official and even societal circles in both countries. Efforts to address past atrocities in contexts of “postponed justice” must be mindful of the current sociocultural significance of justice for victims and civil society.
​
Our team has been working over the past year with Salvadorian and Honduran historians and lawyers to further understand how the passage of time has affected the demands of those affected in El Salvador (regarding the civil war of 1979-1992) and in Honduras (concerning the disappearances and repression in the 1980s and 1990s). This contextual work delved into specific cases: the El Mozote massacre and the murder of the Jesuit priests in El Salvador, and the case of Herminio Deras in Honduras. Through this innovative reflection, we are aiming to assist local partners in revitalizing their efforts, adapting to the passage of time and current priorities. This work has opened the possibility for us to start working with a group of families seeking to understand what happened to their murdered and disappeared relatives, with the goal of activating a path toward justice.
​MEXICO
Driving Innovation in Documentation to Propel Accountability
Since 2020, the G37 Centre has collaborated with local partners in Mexico to address human rights violations rooted in both public and private abuses. Over the years, we have spearheaded pioneering initiatives to document and analyze complex patterns of wrongdoing across Mexico’s diverse and intricate local contexts. These efforts have enhanced our understanding of the entrenched impunity fueling violence and insecurity, particularly over the past two decades within the context of the so-called “Mexico’s War-on-Drugs”. By fostering close partnerships and embracing our role as catalysts for change, we have established ourselves as a vital force in the accountability landscape. In 2023, we launched a comprehensive strategy in Mexico, reinforcing our presence in a country that serves as both Latin America’s northern gateway and the U.S.’s most significant commercial partner. We have established ourselves as a key (new) agent in the accountability field in the country.
​
The past year has been pivotal as we implement innovative justice-seeking strategies in Guerrero, Nayarit, and Coahuila, the latter bordering the U.S. These strategies aim to dismantle the pervasive impunity underlying the country’s approaches to (in)security. Through meticulous research, documentation, and technical assistance, we are advancing justice with a bold, multidisciplinary approach. By integrating insights from social and legal sciences with on-the-ground efforts, we are reimagining accountability in complex environments. Our mission is to foster the agency of local communities to assert their rights and demand transformative change, while strengthening formal and informal mechanisms to ensure that those responsible face meaningful and lasting consequences.
SYRIA
Exploring a New Point of Entry into a Riddled Accountability Quest
We have partnered with the Syria Forum and New Lines Institute to explore how the production and trafficking by the Syrian government and security forces of an amphetamine known as captagon could be addressed from an accountability perspective. Participation in the captagon trade has served to consolidate the authority of the regime and reward the political elite.
After an initial workshop held in Oxford (May 2023), we are exploring connections between criminal activity linked to narcotics in the Middle East and the direct action by the Syrian regime. We are tasked with presenting assessments of legal actions taken against former heads of state and other powerful actors in Latin America for narco-trafficking offenses, providing approaches and mechanisms suitable for the MENA region.
VENEZUELA
Looking Beyond the Crisis, Promoting the Rule of Law, and Bolstering the Quest for Human Rights Accountability
Venezuela is one of the countries with the highest murder rate in the world. Security concerns magnified by widespread fear have justified gruesome acts against marginalized populations, principally youth, suspected of “being criminal”. Thousands of young men and boys have been executed by state security forces and falsely presented as kills-in-action (KIAs), because of alleged armed resistance. As an illustration, and according to the Minister of Interior and Justice Néstor Reverol, state agents killed 5,995 people in 2016 and another 4,998 in 2017 during these operations.
​
These numbers, far from being hidden, are proudly showcased by the government, which emphasizes that its public security policies are “effective” in fighting organized crime. The characterization of those executed as criminals in the eyes of the state, and ultimately society, stigmatizes and silences the affected families. This stigma discourages many families from coming forward to report the incidents, and when they do, they must report to the very institutions that should be investigated. This phenomenon, denounced by Venezuelan and international organizations since at least 2015, includes incidents that may result from the legitimate use of force by law enforcement. However, the sheer magnitude of deaths caused by security forces raises reasonable doubts about official protocols and oversight mechanisms to ensure that lethal force is used in ways that respect human rights.
​
The G37 Centre’s work in Venezuela involves investigating, documenting, and supporting families of young people who were executed by the security forces during police and military operations, allegedly targeting criminal activity, since at least 2015.
SPAIN
Overdue Accountability
The G37 Centre operates in Spain through its registered non-profit association El G37 Centro. In 2023, our accountability strategy in the country focused on pursuing creative strategic litigation cases through the actio popularis figure, aiming to prosecute international crimes under the jurisdiction and competence of Spanish courts, while also advancing innovative methods to combat impunity in areas where international criminal law is either underdeveloped or presents significant challenges for victims seeking justice.
​
In May 2024, our organization began restructuring the program in Spain. Our objective is to identify new thematic working areas, collaborate with key local and regional partners, and develop innovative legal approaches under Spanish procedural and extraterritorial jurisdiction laws. As part of these efforts, we are currently designing a tailored strategy to bring legal and extrajudicial actions against multinational companies, through the Spanish jurisdiction and international mechanisms to obtain accountability for their involvement, participation or profiting off grave human rights violations.
THEMATIC PROGRAM
"Pursuing Justice in Adverse Settings"
Human rights language is commonly used to frame social problems in Latin America, yet there is a growing gap between rhetoric and reality that has led to inherited conceptual errors and outdated notions in addressing these issues. For instance, the misunderstanding of today’s desaparecidos in Mexico through the lens of 1970s Argentina’s state-centric practices, or the narrow focus on counting journalist deaths, obscures deeper, systemic issues and hinders meaningful change.
​
The G37 Centre is currently mapping the human rights accountability trajectory in the region to take stock of how ‘persistent problems’ have been conceived and addressed over the years. Our objective is to leverage our on-the-ground experience in country programs to rethink our field and deepen understanding of these issues. We aim to revitalize accountability initiatives by drawing on various disciplines and methods, avoiding unreflective frameworks that may introduce biases into the formulation of solutions. This is particularly urgent as growing violence and militarization, exacerbated by unsustainable economic models, pose a significant threat to democracy in the region. The increasing militarization, regimes of exception, and non-democratic security measures, often in response to organized crime and other forms of violence, disproportionately affect marginalized sectors of society, especially indigenous, afro-descendant communities, and women.
​
Significantly, our team is also focused on identifying effective approaches and charting pathways towards stronger accountability. Drawing on evidence-based methods, our programmatic experience, and the collective expertise of the broader regional community of practice, we aim to enhance our accountability initiatives and build a descriptive knowledge base. This will illustrate how initiatives function at the local level—identifying social mechanisms of change and mid-range theories of change—and how they interact with multilateral bodies.
