Colombia is a sovereign state situated in South America. It has been a member of the United Nations since 5 November 1945,UN Country Profile: Colombia and is party to a variety of international agreements concerning human rights.International Geneva Conventions, ILO Conventions, International Bill of Human Rights. It also has a series of domestic laws concerning the protection of human rights.See the Colombian Constitution of 1991. However, Colombia's human rights record often contradicts directly with the laws and agreements to which it is bound; Colombia was referred to as the country with the "worst human rights record in the western hemisphere," by HRW in 2007.Justice for Colombia, Human Rights in ColombiaWitness for Peace, Letter to US Ambassador to Colombia , 19 November 2010Human Rights Watch, Congressional Testimony on Democracy, Human Rights, and US Policy towards Colombia, 23 April 2007Press Briefing on Colombia by UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, 10 May 2004 The same was said of Guatemala in 1998,Guatemala’s Record on Rights Called Worst in Latin America, La Times as well as Cuba in 2012Worst of the Worst Freedom House and Venezuela today.Venezuela government guilty of 'worst human rights crisis in its history', The Independent In the UK Foreign Office annual human rights report for 2010, Colombia features as one of 20 "Countries of Concern".The 2010 UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office Report
Colombia and The International Bill of Human Rights Two international treaties concerning human rights were established by the United Nations in 1966: the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights with its two Optional Protocols and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. These two treaties, together with the Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR), make up the International Bill of Human Rights. Colombia signed both treaties in 1966, with their ratification being completed in October 1969.
Colombia and International Humanitarian Law
In 1961, Colombia ratified the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 that form the basis of International Humanitarian Law and the two additional protocols of 1977 were ratified in 1993 and 1995 respectively. As of September 2011, Colombia had not signed up to the third additional protocol of 2005.
The Colombian Constitution
As well as detailing the right of Colombian citizens to fundamental rights (e.g. right to life, equality before the law),Colombian Constitution of 1991, Art. 11 to 41 the constitution mentions the right to economic, social and cultural rights (e.g. labour rights, right to education, rights for groups in need of special protection),Colombian Constitution of 1991, Art. 42 to 77 as well as collective and environmental rights.Colombian Constitution of 1991, Art. 78 to 82 It recognizes special rights for indigenous populations,Semper, Frank, Los Derechos de los Pueblos Indigenas de Colombia , Mexico National University (UNAM) it allows for citizens to take direct legal action against the state with a right to what is known as the tutela, it creates the Constitutional Court, and it determines the existence of posts for human rights ombudsmen. The constitution of 1991 allows, in theory at least, for the human rights of Colombia's citizens to be protected under national constitutional law.Jorge Orlando Melo Gonzalez Los Derechos Humanos en Colombia, Revista Credencial Historia, Edition 156, December 2002
Respect for Human Rights in Colombia
Human Rights Defenders in Colombia
As reported by the National and International Campaign for the Right to Defend Human Rights,Colombia: Human Rights Defenders Under Threat and as documented regularly in reports by leading human rights organisations, .CEJIL Press Release, Colombian Human Rights Defenders Continue to Suffer Threats and Attacks under Santos , 23 May 2011Human Rights First, Human Rights Defenders in Colombia 2011 In 2010, according to the Colombian-based human rights organisation Somos Defensores, at least 174 acts of aggression towards human rights defenders were committed. This included 32 murders and 109 death threats. As Human Rights First reports, attacks against human rights defenders include also 'smear campaigns and break-ins, threatening and omnipresent surveillance, physical assaults, kidnapping, violence directed toward family members, and assassination attempts'.Human Rights First Baseless Prosecutions of Human Rights Defenders in Colombia , February 2009
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'.Colombian Embassy Protecting Labor and Ensuring Justice in Colombia 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 stigmatising the work of human rights defenders, often making unfounded accusations linking them to guerrilla groups.Insight on Conflict The Stigmatisation of Human Rights Defenders in Colombia , 11 May 2010National and International Campaign for the Right to Defend Human Rights, Colombia: Human Rights Defenders Under Threat
Justice for Colombia reports that between August 2010 and June 2011, there were 104 murders with direct ramifications for human rights concerns in Colombia.Justice for Colombia, President Santos - The First Ten Months , June 2011 Those murdered included human rights defenders, trade unionists and community leaders. On average, according to these figures, one murder took place every three days. Human rights defenders find little protection in the Colombian justice system; 784 human rights defenders were threatened, attacked or murdered between 2002 and 2009, there has been a conviction in only 10 of these cases.US Office on Colombia, Still Waiting for Justice, September 2010
Labour Rights in Colombia
Colombia is widely referred to as the most dangerous country in the world to be a trade unionist.ITUC, Worldwide Survey: Repression of union rights and economic freedoms across the globe, 8 June 2011USLEAP, Violence Against Colombian Trade Unionists: Fact vs. Myth, June 2011 The 2011 Annual Survey of Violation of Trade Union Rights published by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) reports that 49 trade unionists were killed in Colombia in 2010, more than in the rest of the world put together. According to government figures, 37 unionists were murdered.Colombian Embassy, Protecting Labor and Ensuring Justice in Colombia Between January and August 2011, 19 trade unionists have been reported killed.ITUC, Asesinato de lider minero en Colombia, 16 August 2011
The ITUC reports that between 2000 and 2010 Colombia has accounted for 63.12% of trade unionists murdered globally.ITUC, ITUC responds to press release issued by Colombia Interior Ministry, 11 June 2010 According to Human Rights Watch and Justice for Colombia, most of these murders are attributed to right-wing paramilitaries, whilst some are directly attributed to state forces.Human Rights Watch, World report 2011: ColombiaJustice for Colombia Anti-Trade Union Violence Amnesty International reported in 2007 that for cases in which the perpetrator was known, paramilitaries were responsible for 49% of the attacks against trade-unionists, state forces were responsible for 43%, and the guerrilla forces were responsible for 2%.Amnesty International The Reality of Trade Unionism in Colombia, 3 July 2007
According to the National Labour School (ENS), a Colombian NGO monitoring trade union violence, impunity for crimes committed against trade unionists is running at 94%.
Trade union membership in Colombia has fallen dramatically since the 1980s.The Solidarity Center The Struggle for Worker Rights , May 2006 According to Justice for Colombia, a British NGO campaigning for human rights and an end to trade union violence in Colombia, this is due to a combination of factors: 'Less than 5% of Colombian workers are members of trade unions – the lowest level in the Americas. Less than twenty years ago it was double that figure but violence against trade unionists, changes in the labour market and anti-trade union policies have led to a huge decrease in membership. Today only 850,000 Colombians are members of a trade union'.Justice for Colombia Workers' Rights in Colombia As demonstrated by figures from the ENS, such is the nature of the Colombian workforce, it is very difficult for the majority of Colombian workers to join a trade union: 'of Colombia's 18 million working people...11 million are working in the informal economy....Of the remaining 7 million people (who do have formal employment) only 4 million benefit from permanent employment contracts'.
Colombia has ratified 60 ILO conventions and the eight conventions on fundamental labour rights. However, Justice for Colombia reports that in 2011 Colombians are still working in 'conditions so poor that they violate both ILO conventions and Colombian national law'.Justice for Colombia Workers Persecuted for Strike Action, 24 August 2011 Up until 2010, Colombia had featured every year for 21 years on the ILO blacklist of countries to be investigated for non-compliance with conventions concerning labour rights.Colombia anuncia salida de lista negra de OIT , Associated Press, 2 June 2010
Colombia's removal from the ILO blacklist list in 2010 was cited by Colombian officials as a demonstration that respect for trade unions and for labour rights had improved in Colombia.Uribe destaca exclusion de Colombia de lista negra de OIT, El Espectador, 5 June 2010 However, the UK's Trade Union Congress (TUC) points out that in 2010 the ILO also made an agreement with the Colombian government to send a high level commission to visit the country in response to the continued violation of labour rights.TUC, Solidarity with Colombian Trade Unions , 17 June 2010 Two of Colombia's three major trade union centres, the CUT and the CTC, released a statement in 2010 in response to the decisions made by the ILO: 'the acceptance of a High Level Tripartite Mission on the part of the Colombian government implies that the State accepts it has not complied with ILO requirements in a satisfactory way.... at no point has ILO indicated that the issues of human rights and freedom of association have been solved'.CUT and CTC Statement , June 2010
Legal Rights in Colombia
Whilst the right to due process in all legal processes is a right decreed to Colombians in article 29 of the Colombian constitution, human rights observers regularly report failures to provide this and indeed other legal rights.Colombian Constitution of 1991, Art. 29 The 2011 report from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights for Colombia reports that 'the prosecution and arbitrary detentions of human rights defenders on the basis of uncorroborated information provided mainly by informants, demobilized persons and military intelligence reports, continue to be of concern'.UNHCHR Report of the UNHCHR on the human rights situation in Colombia , A/HRC/16/22, 3 February 2011 According to the respected Jesuit human rights defender, Padre Javier Giraldo, between August 2002 and August 2004 there were 6332 arbitrary detentions.Padre Giraldo, Javier, Carta de objeción de conciencia