HUMAN RIGHTS IN COLOMBIA

HUMAN RIGHTS IN COLOMBIA

First of all it is important to clarify the definition of Human Rights, for the record the concept of Human Rights is that they’re ‘moral principles or norms that describe certain standards of human behavior, and are regularly protected as legal rights in national and international law. They are commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights "to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being," and which are "inherent in all human beings" regardless of their nation, location, language, religion, ethnic origin or any other status. They are applicable everywhere and at every time in the sense of being universal, and they are egalitarian in the sense of being the same for everyone. They require empathy and the rule of law and impose an obligation on persons to respect the human rights of others. They should not be taken away except as a result of due process based on specific circumstances, and require freedom from unlawful imprisonment, torture, and execution.’

Now it’s necessary to delimitate the area, in this case is Colombia, this state has been a member of the United Nations since 5 November 1945 and also in the topic of Human Rights is party to a variety of international agreements, not to mention that has some of domestic laws that pursue the protection thereof. However, Colombia’s human rights record often contradicts directly with the laws and agreements to which it is bound; Colombia is widely referred to as the country with the ‘worst human rights record in the western hemisphere’. Because of that Colombia is nowadays one of the twenty countries of concern according to the 2010 Foreign & Commenwealth Office Report in the UK.

Colombia ratified the four Geneva Conventions in 1961 with the two additional protocols but didn’t sign up to the third additional protocol of 2005, also signed two international treaties, the international Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant On Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; besides the Universal Declaration On Human Rights, so guarantees the International Bill of Human Rights.

However, regarding the domestic law of the country the 1991 Constitution offer to all citizens access to fundamental rights, economic, social and cultural rights and collective and environmental rights. In addition it recognizes special treatment for certain cultural and social groups like indigenous, afrocolombians or minorities. The Constitution allows the people to approach to justice with the ‘tutela’ that results to be a way to take direct legal action against the state to prevent or restore the fundamental right, which has been threatened. From this perspective and under the terms of the Constitution, Article 86: ‘Every person has the right to file a writ of protection before a judge, at any time or place, through a preferential and summary proceeding, for himself/herself or by whomever acts in his/her name for the immediate protection of his/her fundamental constitutional rights when that person fears the latter may be violated by the action or omission of any public authority’.

That said, Colombia has a human rights organisations named ‘Somos Defensores’ but unfortunately the National and International Campaign for the Right to Defend Human Rights reports that in 2010 at least 174 acts of aggression towards human rights defenders were committed.

The Colombian government has a special protection program that seeks to protect those under threat. The Colombian embassy in Washington states that the protection program ‘offers long-term services based on specific needs of vulnerable individuals and groups’. In spite of this, the figures for the first semester of 2011 showed an increase of 126% in acts of aggressions committed against human rights defenders from 2010. Paramilitary groups were held responsible in 59% of the cases, state security forces were held responsible for 10% and the guerrilla groups 2%. Colombian officials have also been widely implicated in stigmatizing the work of human rights defenders, often making unfounded accusations linking them to guerrilla groups.

Furthermore Human Rights Watch that is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights, has made a report about the circumstances in which it’s Colombia

...