“Lack of contrast” is how the Colombian government called the IACHR report on the national strike

This Tuesday, the report of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) was published in which it confirmed that in Colombia there had been acts of abuse of force against demonstrators in the context of the strike. national. The document made recommendations such as not to ban blockades broadly and to separate the police from the Defense Ministry, points which the national government rejected.

In the government’s response, he asserts that the contents of the report lack contrasts and rejects the fact that blockades are a legitimate form of protest. In the document, The IACHR specifies that these are part of the different forms of protest that exist, such as cacerolazos or marches, for which it asks the government not to ban them in a generalized way.

Faced with the point of separation of the National Police and Esmad from the Ministry of Defense, the Government expresses that “the concern of the Commission concerning the military approach is foreign to the substantial and organic content of our Political Charter” since this discussion , they claim, it was given to the Constituent Assembly in 1991 and it was left with the ministry.

During the press conference, the president of the body, Antonia Urrejola, explained that she is aware of the police reform project announced by Iván Duque but that she did not want to comment on it. sufficient or not because she does not know him in depth. . He also indicated that beyond the separation of powers, he demands that the guarantees in the demonstrations be respected and that the use of the police be regulated according to international standards.

Before the Police, the Government affirms that there is no structural stigmatization of social protest: “There cannot be and has not been tolerance for violence against these populations (LGBTI and women). These possible cases of discrimination are subject to protection and investigation by the authorities ”.

And he claims that the figures managed by the IACHR do not recognize the data provided by the victims of the blockades and the cases of babies killed in ambulances, However, the Commission document included this data, notably in this paragraph:

For its part, “the Colombian State categorically rejects the creation of a” Special Human Rights Monitoring Mechanism for Colombia, which contributes to the consolidation of peace in the different sectors of society “, such as ‘announced the IACHR in its statement. We reiterate that our State has a solid and solid institutional framework, based on democratic principles and guarantees for all citizens and, therefore, we do not consider that a monitoring mechanism is necessary ”, indicates the published document. by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In the document of the IACHR has collected complaints about excessive use of the outdoors with non-lethal weapons such as exhaled irritant gases and the use of the Venom grenade launcherIn view of this, the government has stated that “it is relevant to quote the recent Tutela judgment rendered by the court in Bogotá on June 28, 2021, in which it established that it is constitutionally valid and does not violate fundamental rights , the use of so-called Venom weapons, which are ranked among the least lethal, given that “they have no direct impact on citizens”, and also warns that “their use is fully regulated” “.

The government also rejects the mention of peace agreements with the FARC guerrillas and states that this has nothing to do with the visit, although in the document, just in the introduction to point 1, the IACHR mentions that it should preserve the balanced institutional architecture of the public authorities and autonomous oversight bodies, as established in the Political Constitution of 1991 and “reinforced by the Peace Agreement of 2016”.

The report

The IACHR explains that with the departure of the ministry, it must “guarantee training that consolidates the preservation of security with a citizen and human rights approach”. For his part, the president of the entity, Antonio Urrejola, said that the recommendation to separate the police and Esmad from the ministry seeks to “avoid a military vision in the police” and that beyond said action they want the minimum of respect and security. are met.

In the report, they also call on the state not to ban “a priori” roadblocks (roadblocks) as part of protests and indicate that they have received 2,908 requests to contribute to the testimonies collected, but that 302 have in fact heard favoring diversity and plurality in them, including 500 people.

President Urrejola underlined that on the issue of blockades, they are part of forms of protest such as cacerolazos and marches, “this implies that the state generally cannot prohibit this form of protest”.

Urgent measures are also called for in the areas of training, the use of action protocols and the creation of accountability mechanisms, which encourage Esmad to perform guarantee functions. public order and the exercise of the right to demonstrate, as well as to limit its action to strictly necessary cases.

In a video shown by the Commission during the press conference, various testimonies were collected from victims of state abuse and from some police officers who suffered in the context of the national strike.

They are calling for reparations to be made, primarily, for people who suffered damage or lost their families in the protests. In addition to ensuring that relatives of detained persons, and where applicable their legal representatives, have access to all information on the detention process.

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