Author: cswpress

Nigeria Does Not Have a Kidnapping Problem. It Has a Protection Accountability Problem.

Posted on by cswpress in Nigeria, Sub-Saharan Africa

On 15 May 2026 armed men attacked three schools in Oriire Local Government Area, Oyo State. Forty-six pupils and teachers were taken. On the same day — the same day — forty-two children were abducted from Mussa Primary and Junior Secondary School in Askira-Uba, Borno State. A mathematics teacher, Michael Oyedokun, was killed. His students watched. Three weeks have passed. Most of those children are still missing.

Nigeria does not have a kidnapping problem. Nigeria has a protection accountability problem. The kidnapping is the outcome. The accountability failure is the system.

The Record on Paper

Nigeria endorsed the Safe Schools Declaration in 2015. It launched a National Policy on Safety, Security and Violence-Free Schools in 2021. In December 2022 the government committed ₦144.8 billion to a Safe Schools financing plan running through 2026. A National Safe Schools Response Coordination Centre was established. Security personnel were trained across all 36 states.

Continue reading “Nigeria Does Not Have a Kidnapping Problem. It Has a Protection Accountability Problem.” →

Sacred Sites, Silenced Voices: Indigenous Pluralism is Under Threat in Colombia’s Black Line

Posted on by cswpress in Colombia, Latin America

The Black Line (Línea Negra), known by the indigenous people who live there as Sé shizha, is the system of sacred spaces that delineates the ancestral territory of the Arhuaco, Kankuamo, Kogui and Wiwa peoples in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountain range in Northern Colombia.

For these peoples, it constitutes not merely a geographical boundary, but a spiritual network comprising ceremonial sites, places for ritual offerings or pagamentos, ancestral connection, and the maintenance of global equilibrium in accordance with the Law of Origin – a set of spiritual, cultural and normative principles that,  indigenous peoples believe guide the relationship between individuals, nature, the land and communal life.

Recently however, concerns have arisen regarding the rights of these communities to have a say in the governance of these sites, with traditional authorities in Aracataca, Ciénaga and Santa Marta in Magdalena Department asserting that they were never convened or genuinely and effectively involved in decision-making processes related to the protection of the Black Line.

Continue reading “Sacred Sites, Silenced Voices: Indigenous Pluralism is Under Threat in Colombia’s Black Line” →

Lugares Sagrados, Voces Silenciadas: El pluralismo indígena está bajo amenaza en la Línea Negra de Colombia

Posted on by cswpress in Colombia ES, español, Latin America ES

La Línea Negra, conocida por los pueblos indígenas que habitan la región como Sé shizha, es el sistema de espacios sagrados que delimita el territorio ancestral de los pueblos Arhuaco, Kankuamo, Kogui y Wiwa en la Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, al norte de Colombia.

Para estos pueblos, no se trata simplemente de una frontera geográfica, sino de una red espiritual compuesta por sitios ceremoniales, lugares para realizar ofrendas rituales o “pagamentos”, espacios de conexión ancestral y de mantenimiento del equilibrio del mundo de acuerdo con la Ley de Origen, un conjunto de principios espirituales, culturales y normativos que, según las creencias indígenas, orientan la relación entre las personas, la naturaleza, el territorio y la vida comunitaria.

Sin embargo, recientemente han surgido preocupaciones respecto al derecho de estas comunidades a participar en la gobernanza de estos sitios. Autoridades tradicionales de Aracataca, Ciénaga y Santa Marta, en el departamento del Magdalena, afirman que nunca fueron convocadas ni involucradas de manera genuina y efectiva en los procesos de toma de decisiones relacionados con la protección de la Línea Negra.

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As hard as it may be to hold the Nicaraguan government to account, the world has not forgotten Pastor Efren Antonio Vílchez López

Posted on by cswpress in Latin America, Nicaragua

‘They closed the embassy around three or four years ago but didn’t really tell anyone.’

I think I actually laughed when I heard it. I was standing in the reception of a building I was just then discovering was the former site of the Nicaraguan Embassy in London, having made an hour and a half journey to Kensington to deliver a letter calling for the release of Protestant Pastor Efren Antonio Vílchez López.

From the way the receptionist explained it I got the sense that this sort of thing had happened before, which lessened but did not entirely eliminate the embarrassment on my part. Some frantic Googling revealed that while, yes, there were some mentions of the closure online – particularly if you added ‘closed’ to your search terms – most results listed the address as the building I was now standing disgruntledly outside, with the panel that pops up when you search for these things still listing its opening hours as 11am-4pm Monday to Friday.

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Por difícil que sea exigirle responsabilidades al gobierno nicaragüense, el mundo no ha olvidado al pastor Efren Antonio Vílchez López.

Posted on by cswpress in español, Latin America ES, Nicaragua ES

‘Cerraron la embajada hace como tres o cuatro años, pero no le dijeron a nadie.’

Creo que me reí cuando lo escuché. Estaba en la recepción de un edificio cuando acababa de descubrir que era la antigua sede de la Embajada de Nicaragua en Londres, justo después de haber viajado una hora y media hasta Kensington para entregar una carta pidiendo la liberación del pastor protestante Efren Antonio Vílchez López.

Por la forma en que la recepcionista lo explicó, tuve la impresión de que algo así ya había sucedido antes, lo cual disminuyó, pero no eliminó por completo, mi vergüenza. Una búsqueda frenética en Google reveló que, si bien, sí, había  algunas menciones del cierre en línea – especialmente si agregabas “cerrado” a tus términos de búsqueda-, la mayoría de los resultados mostraban la dirección del edificio frente al cual me encontraba ahora, visiblemente disgustado, ant el panel que aparece cuando buscas este tipo de cosas aún enlistando las horas en las que abren como 11am-4pm lunes a viernes.

Continue reading “Por difícil que sea exigirle responsabilidades al gobierno nicaragüense, el mundo no ha olvidado al pastor Efren Antonio Vílchez López.” →