His Majesty the King presented the 7th King of Spain Human Rights Award to representatives of the organisation Patrulla Aérea Civil colombiana (PAC) in the assembly hall of the University of Alcalá, in Alcalá de Henares. Don Felipe highlighted “the perseverance, joint effort and selflessness” that characterise the Colombian Civil Air Patrol, an “outstanding example of service and commitment”.
HM the King said that, regretfully, human rights “still in our days, are frequently ignored and violated in many parts of the world” and pointed out that they are the “essence that allows everyone to have a sense of dignity and a sense of the dignity of each of their fellow beings.”
The Ombudsman, Soledad Becerril, highlighted the “humanitarian services” rendered by the Colombian Civil Air Patrol, which is composed of pilots and health professionals who, on a voluntary basis, take medical care to remote areas far from city centres, that are very hard to access.
She explained that “in the 21st century, in the era of speed in communications, there are many human communities, living completely cut off from big cities” and that do not have access to “basic rights such as medical care or education”.
In this respect, she explained, the PAC performs a “task that leaves a long-lasting mark” and went on to say that “real progress lies in making human development possible, for the purpose of which human beings need to be given opportunities, such as education, medical care, the presumption of innocence and access to justice”.
The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Alcalá, Fernando Galván, defined the PAC as ‘an admirable example of dedication by hundreds of volunteer health professionals and pilots who, every year, successfully deliver medical care to thousands of people living in regions and localities that are hard to access, as a result of which they bear the brunt of calamities of poverty and natural catastrophes’.
The Vice-Chancellor made reference, too, to the history of the University of Alcalá, which has been linked since its origins to Latin America, and to how, from the 16th century onwards, it had become established as a debate forum for a wide variety of subject matters, including human rights.
The President of the Colombian Civil Air Patrol, Juan Carlos Lenz, gave thanks for the award and emphasized that the work done by the organisation goes to show that “with a few resources, a lot of passion, love and collaboration, lives can be transformed radically and deeply, making an impact not only on our patients, but on their entire community”.
He also announced that he intends to put the prize money towards creating a health brigade in Taraira, a municipality of the Colombian Amazon where 300 indigenous children live in a boarding home in precarious conditions.
The new brigade will be called the “King of Spain Brigade: in support of the right to health of the indigenous children of the Colombian Vaupés” (Brigada Rey de España: por el derecho a la salud de los niños indígenas del Vaupés colombiano).
Colombian Civil Air Patrol
The Air Patrol is a private non-profit institution, whose aim is the provision of free medical and surgical care to scattered rural communities living in conditions of poverty, extreme poverty, or victims of catastrophes, within the Republic of Colombia.
It cares for 12,000 people a year who are living in conditions of poverty and exclusion and in hard to access areas, which the public health system does not reach, or does not do so with sufficient efficacy. Each year, the Patrol performs 20,000 specialised care treatments, 1,200 surgical operations and delivers more than 10,000 medical treatments and 3,500 glasses.
It has about 100 members (private pilots and volunteers) and is the largest health-related volunteer programme in the country, with more than 500 health professionals who travel all over Colombia. The Patrol serves, above all, rural areas of the country that only have access by air, sea or river.
King of Spain Human Rights Award
Every two years, the Ombudsman and the University of Alcalá award this prize, which rewards the work undertaken by institutions in Latin America, Spain and Portugal that excel for their work in the defence and promotion of human rights and democratic values. It has a prize money of 25,000 euros.
Since 2004, there have been six editions of the King of Spain Human Rights Award. The award-winning organisations were the Brazilian institution, Pastoral da Criança; Fundación Myrna Mack from Guatemala; the Latin American and Caribbean Committee for Defense of Women’s Rights (CLADEM), with headquarters in Peru; the non-governmental organisation “Un techo para mi País”, that has its head office in Santiago de Chile; the Red Nacional de Organismos Civiles de Derechos Humanos “Todos los Derechos para Todas y Todos” (Red TDT) from Mexico, and in the last edition, the Adoratrices Institution.
