The non-governmental human rights organizations emerged as a result of efforts made by social groups to influence the dynamics of public administration through proposals and control actions, accompaniment, and the defense of fundamental rights. ONG's, as a plural expression of civil society, do play a significant role in today's world. They have become essential participants in the public debate over such issues as the environment, civil rights, women's rights and human rights. Their influence has been significant to such extent that since the 1960s the United Nations has granted consultative status to hundreds of them.

In Colombia, dozens of NGOs do work and play an influential role in many areas, including the environment, the economy, humanitarian aid and human rights. In the present circumstances of the country, their presence has become more and more common and widespread. In the midst of conflict, they have set up real networks of citizens and groups that contribute to the overcoming of the crisis.

Life, freedom, tolerance and hope are central in their philosophy. Their diverse initiatives, spread across social movements, promoting a wide range of collective interests on behalf of a diversity of groups. There are peace initiatives, such as that launched in Mogotes, and the NASA Cauca Indigenous People's initiative, which were awarded the National Peace Prize. Corpoversalles, based in the department of Valle del Cauca and the Center for the Atention of Widows and Orfhans of Apartadó recibed an award form the Alejandro Angel Escobar Foundation. A number of NGOs have been honored internationally, including the Carare Peasants Association, "Cedavida", the Popular Women's Organization, and the Middle Magdalena Region Development Program. New initiatives are taking shape in the present conjuncture, such as the Fair Treatment Agreement, the Hope Foundation, the Two Worlds Foundation, "Lazos", the Citizens' Mandate for Peace, Redepaz, and Idepaz, among others. They work on specific items of the national agenda, including violence, the protection of sectors of society affected by human rights violations, the defense of the rights of women, children, the indigenous peoples, journalists, and the Afro-Colombian population. They also work on such issues as enforced disappearance, traffic in persons, anti-personnel land mines, IHL, the regions, and the preparation of proper conditions to overcome the crisis.

Many NGOs that concentrate their efforts on the defense of human rights in Colombia have gained national and international recognition. The Colombian Commission of Jurists, granted consultative status with the UN, the Permanent Committee for the Defense of Human rights, the CINEP, the Association of Relatives of Detained and Disappeared Persons, ASFADDES, the Advisory Office for Human Rights and Displacement, CODHES, Minga Corporation, the Political Prisoners Solidarity Committee, the "José Alvear Restrepo" Lawyers Group, the Social Foundation, "Reiniciar", and "Progresar", are well-established organizations. The human rights NGOs have been the counterparts of governments, and on many occasions have drawn attention to the obstacles that hinder the exercise of fundamental rights. They are advocates of schemes to promote and enforce human rights, and have been crucial in denouncing the violation of these rights. In addition, they take part in prevention campaigns, as well as in the protection and care of victims.

They work in association with the government on many aspects and tasks of the government's Policy on the Promotion, Respect and Guarantee of Human Rights and the Application of IHL. They participated in the design of the policy, and now keep watch on its development. The NGOs take part in various bodies, such as the Commission for Indigenous Peoples, the Commission for the Search of Missing Persons, the Commission for Workers' Rights, the Commission for the Protection of Journalists, among others. Joint tasks undertaken by the NGOs and the government, often very laborious, have been crucial to many national legislative initiatives, such as the Law on Enforced Disappearance, and also international initiatives, such as the creation of the International Criminal Court. As human rights violations are denounced, and accompaniment and care are provided to the victims, the NGOs maintain a permanent dialogue with the government, as well as with international bodies. The delicate Colombian situation has been kept under close scrutiny jointly by the NGOs and the government, through the Observatory of the Presidential Program for Human rights and IHL. The "Profiles" section of this Newsletter, where the NGOs have featured prominently for some time, shows that their vision coincides with that of the government in many important points.

The Colombian State is convinced that their support is necessary. To the government, the groups working for the defense of human rights are legitimate counterparts. The government acknowledges their contributions. The government's recognition of the human rights NGOs as its individual members, and the protection that it has committed itself to provide to them, took concrete form in Presidential Directive No. 007 of 1999, and in the Program for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders.

Many international organizations provide invaluable service to Colombia by exercising vigilance, denouncing violations and keeping careful track of the progress of cases, presenting proposals, and contributing to the finding of solutions for in connection with human rights violations and infringements of IHL. Amnesty International, International Alert, the Lawyers Committee, WOLA, the Andean Commission of Jurists, CEJIL, Pax Christi, Diakonia, and Human Rigths Watch, count among the organizations whose intervention has been essential in the investigation of cases by national and international judicial bodies.

Of particular significance, as part of the concerted national and international effort to protect human rights, is the work done by humanitarian organizations that spread beyond national borders, such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, Peace Brigades International, Médecins Sans Frontières, Médecins du Monde, Save the Children, and the Norwegian Committee for Refugees, among others. Many of them work today in Colombia. They have formed an association called DIAL, Dialogue International. Their activities have made it possible for the victims of the conflict to be taken care of, protected and otherwise helped, in collaboration with the institutional bodies of Colombia. The national government has invited the humanitarian organizations to work jointly with it, pledging respect for the autonomy and independence of each of them.