Colombia | Stop attacks on protesters, protect defenders and hold perpetrators accountable

Statement of the NGO-LAC group in Geneva on the recent protests in several cities of Colombia

In the context of the days of mobilization initiated on April 28, 2021, in various cities of Colombia, our organizations belonging to the NGO-LAC group in Geneva, join the concern of multiple and coinciding information, which indicate the perpetration of serious human rights violations as a result of the excessive use of force by the Colombian security forces. The killings act constituting torture and other ill-treatment, enforced disappearances, sexual violence, arbitrary detentions and attacks, including cyber-attacks, against those exercising their right to protest, the press and human rights organizations are deeply troubling.            

Serious human rights violations have been exacerbated by the actions and statements of high-ranking officials who have ordered the intervention of military forces and have adopted a stigmatizing and criminalizing approach towards protestors, human rights defenders and indigenous peoples. They have been exposed to attacks not only by security forces but also by armed civilian groups, in violation of basic international principles for the promotion and protection of the right to peaceful assembly, as well as basic principles regulating the use of force, including lethal force and “less lethal” weapons. These abuses follow the Colombian Supreme Court’s ruling urging the security forces not to act in a violent, arbitrary and systematic manner during demonstrations.

The Defend Freedom Campaign (La Campaña Defender La Libertad) has registered, between April 28 and May 10, 2021, at least: 52 homicides attributed to the security forces, 15 people victims of gender-based violence, 489 people injured, among which 33 people with eye injuries and 48 people injured with firearms; 1,365 people arbitrarily detained, many of whom have denounced acts constituting torture and other ill-treatment. The Defend Freedom Campaign has also recorded the disappearance of 435 people.

We are concerned about reports of attacks and threats against human rights defenders and civil society organizations that have been monitoring the protests and following up on the whereabouts of those detained. The most recent figures of the aforementioned Campaign speak of 69 human rights defenders. This is the country with the highest number of murdered and threatened human rights defenders in the world.

Likewise, we are deeply concerned about the coinciding reports indicating a pattern of arbitrary detention of protesters, in which basic guarantees are violated, without a record of detention, access to a lawyer and communication with their relatives, which has resulted in a worrying number of people whose whereabouts remain unknown, exposing them to a very high risk of being subjected to torture and attacks against their lives.

Interference with the right to freedom of association and expression has also been registered in the internet environment, with supply cuts and user complaints about access to content related to denunciations and monitoring of protests.

It is important to highlight that the origin of the protests is not only linked to demands regarding the tax reform bill (currently withdrawn by the Executive), but structural demands linked to the guarantee of human rights, including an increase in poverty, growing inequality and social injustices, impunity and systematic violence against defenders, systematic violence against human rights defenders, social, peasant, union and indigenous leaders and leaders who defend human rights, and the full implementation of the 2016 Peace Agreement.

As long as inequity and the structural causes of poverty are not adequately addressed by the authorities and spaces for dialogue are not created to allow the adoption of concrete measures towards the real implementation of economic, social, cultural and environmental rights in Colombia, the risk of new social confrontations will persist. As has been repeated so many times in Colombian history, such confrontations are susceptible scenarios for violations of civil and political rights, especially of marginalized and excluded social sectors that demand justice.

Therefore, our organizations request the Colombian State:

1. Adopt urgent and effective measures to locate the whereabouts of the disappeared persons, as well as to guarantee that the persons are detained in accordance with the necessary safeguards, including access to a lawyer and communication with related persons in the first moments of detention.

2. Cease the use of excessive and arbitrary force and respect the rights to freedom of assembly, freedom of expression and freedom of association that are fundamental to any democratic society. The use of lethal weapons against demonstrators and bystanders must cease. The use of force should be exceptional and used in accordance with international standards to guarantee the right to peaceful assembly. The militarization of cities and the civilian protection tasks of the state go against international human rights standards.

3. Adopt urgent measures to protect and guarantee the right to peaceful assembly, in the face of the actions of individuals and armed groups of a civilian, parapolice or paramilitary nature, investigating and sanctioning statements and behaviours that stigmatize and endanger the life and personal integrity of persons exercising this right.

4. To immediately cease all forms of censorship of messages disseminated on the Internet and social networks that denounce human rights violations by the State.

5. To guarantee the protection of human rights defenders who participate in and monitor protests and denounce human rights violations committed; so that they can carry out their work freely and without obstacles or attacks, threats and intimidation.

6. To conduct prompt, thorough and independent investigations in the ordinary jurisdiction of the Colombian jurisdiction with a view to identifying and punishing the perpetrators of all cases of excessive and arbitrary use of force and other serious human rights violations that have been perpetrated in the context of the protests and attacks on human rights defenders, including those prior to this year’s protests; guaranteeing the impartiality of the Ombudsman’s Office, the Attorney General’s Office and the Attorney General’s Office, providing them with sufficient resources and capacity to ensure the full independence of these bodies.

7.  To guarantee democratic, safe, transparent and inclusive spaces for dialogue between the State and all the diverse sectors of the National Strike on an equal footing and with the oversight of the United Nations and the international community, which will allow for social agreements to be reached that guarantee the Colombian State’s compliance with its human rights obligations, especially with regard to the discriminated and marginalized sectors of the population. It is essential to fully guarantee the right to participation of these sectors, listening to and addressing their demands in terms of human rights and social justice, such as economic, social and cultural rights, the rights of peasants and other rural communities, Afro-Colombian communities and indigenous peoples, the right to life and compliance with the 2016 Peace Accord.

Centre for Civil and Political Rights (CCPR Centre)

Dominicans for Justice and Peace

FIAN International

Franciscans International (FI)

International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race & Equality)

World Organization Against Torture (OMCT)

International Human Rights Network (IHRN)

International Service for Human Rights (ISHR)

Contact: Eleanor Openshaw [email protected]