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1991. From 2000 to 2004, 70 lawyers died, eight disappeared, and 11 are in exile. No one has been convicted in any of these cases. Nationwide, there were 500,000 homicides from 1980 to 2003, according to a 2004 report in the Pan American Journal of Public Health. About 32,000 of these slayings were the result of armed confrontations between combatants. The journal stated that the other murders were likely the indirect result of war, including "competition in the illicit drug [cocaine] trade, and impunity from law enforcement." Under President Alvaro Uribe's policy of "democratic secu- rity," Colombia's kidnapping and murder rates have declined. However, says Tremblay, the improved statistics fly in the face of the grim reality of practising human rights law in Colombia. When Tremblay says he assumes his telephone and e-mail com- munications are intercepted, he isn't being paranoid. CAJAR, a 30-year-old collective that represents clients pro bono, was the target of a wiretapping and spy scandal uncovered in early 2009 by the attorney general's office. Colombia's Department of Administrative Security (DAS), an intelligence agency that reports to Uribe, spied on human rights lawyers and activists, judges, trade unionists, journalists, and opposition politicians. Investigators from the attorney general's office confiscated a 5,000-page dossier that DAS had compiled on CAJAR staff as well as a visiting LWBC lawyer. It revealed that the collective's 13 lawyers and their families, including children, were followed and photographed. Bank accounts were hacked and birth certificates copied. Solicitor-client privilege was also violated by DAS, which recorded lawyers' land line, e-mail, and cellphone communica- tions. Seized DAS documents made reference to using baseless criminal prosecution to impede the work of the surveillance targets. CAJAR lawyer Dora Lucy Arias says the surveillance was carried out to "neutralize and restrict our activities." As Canadian human rights lawyers, Tremblay and Patterson enjoy a level of safety denied to their Colombian colleagues. Their status as foreigners also opens government doors, giving them a minor diplomatic role as well as a legal one. Tremblay, firstly, is committed to helping the collective open as many cases as pos- sible under the Justice and Peace Law adopted in 2005. It seeks to demobilize the paramilitaries, thus allowing a peace process to develop between the government and paramilitary groups. Secondly, Tremblay meets regularly with Carlos Franco, a for- mer guerrilla who is now the government spokesman for human rights. Tremblay discusses progress on a list of 20 cases where Colombian lawyers have been threatened, attacked, or disap- peared. "This is part of the added value of our work. If we never met with Colombian officials, then I might wonder," he says. Patterson also met low-level politicians, including local mayors, during her two-week sojourn to Nariño with CAJAR lawyer Johana Rocha. In the area still partly controlled by guer- rillas, Patterson and Rocha had a nerve-racking journey, passing through militarized checkpoints every 10 kilometres. But her presence as a foreigner, Patterson believes, helped ensure her col- league's safety. With a foreign lawyer present, Rocha couldn't "be accused of being subversive or colluding with guerrillas." Patterson regularly worked from 8 a.m. to late evening, meet- ing with indigenous groups and Afro-Colombians to discuss the ntitled-6 1 legal avenues open to them to achieve reparation from multina- tional companies, mining companies, and paramilitaries, which have forced them off their land. The UN Refugee Agency report- ed last year that Nariño has the highest rate of displacement in the country due to the presence of armed groups. In total, Colombia has about 2.8 million internally displaced people. Patterson gave workshops to lawyers and indigenous peoples on international human rights law, drawing upon her experi- ences in Canada dealing with aboriginal disputes against and partnerships with mining companies. Despite the poor treat- ment of indigenous groups, the Colombian constitution recog- nizes indigenous customary law, which allows them to practise their own justice system and determine civil and family matters. "It's always interesting to see another legal system, and bring that knowledge back home," she says. "I learned a lot that will be use- ful in my practice." Doing human rights work in a nation where the government "brushes off on a daily basis accusations that they are ill-treating communities or specific individuals" can be frustrating and dis- heartening, says Tremblay. But working side by side with CAJAR colleagues, who live under daily threat, inspires them to push even harder to try to help improve human rights. Although LWBC is politically neutral, it has met with elected officials in Canada to voice concerns over the pending free trade agreement with Colombia. "I consider myself very fortunate to give a hand to these lawyers," says Tremblay. 2010 Summer Courses in Intellectual Property For professionals in the business, legal and public sectors. Since 1994, the Intellectual Property Institute of Canada and McGill University's Centre for Continuing Education have gathered some of the best practitioners in the field to conduct a series of intensive, practical courses in intellectual property. Gain valuable insight and hands-on experience by participating in our unique introductory and advanced courses. 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