PRESENTE

Attacking the unarmed

Attacking the unarmed is the modus operandi of the cowardly employees of intelligence services and insurgent hit squads. The principal victim is the society at large because each time a human rights defender's voice is silenced, another layer of civil society's protection is chipped away. Each time a critical voice or peaceful opposition voice is silenced, society loses another point of view and component of what should be a broad public debate to ensure that the government arrives at policies with the broadest public support, gleaned from ample input. The human toll is borne by the victim's family, friends, and colleagues yet society also suffers the impoverishment of another life lost. Yet that person's viewpoint lives on as well as the example in selflessness the person has set for us all. Unfortunately we have examples all over the world, from Argentina and Chile to Rwanda and Burundi to China and Indonesia.