UN condemns “excessive use of force” in context of protests in Colombia

After six days of social protests in Colombia, the United Nations (UN), rejected the “excessive use of force” against Colombian demonstrators, who took to the streets of several cities in the country to protest against tax reform and the government of Iván Duque.

So far, as part of the national strike, there has been, at least 19 dead, Therefore, the spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Marta Hurtado, sent a wake-up call from Geneva, Switzerland, in which he called for calm for the next demonstrations to be held this Wednesday, May 5 in Colombia.

“We are deeply alarmed by the events in the city of Cali in Colombia last night, when police opened fire on demonstrators protesting against tax reform, killing and injuring several people, according to information received,” said Hurtado.

In another section of his statement, the senior official assured that the UN is working to give an accurate number of victims in the country. “Our office in Colombia is trying to verify the exact number of victims and establish the circumstances of these terrible incidents in Cali”, Hurtado reported, who also denounced that “Human rights defenders have also reported being harassed and threatened.”

Regarding the Colombian public force, the UN spokesperson declared that the members of the organization to which it belongs “witnessed excessive use of force by the police“. So, once again, he advised the citizens.

“In view of the extremely tense situation, with soldiers and police deployed to monitor the demonstration, we call for calm,” Hurtado said and urged the Colombian government to promote the human rights of its citizens.

“We remind state authorities of their responsibility to protect human rights, including the right to life and personal security, and to facilitate the exercise of the right to freedom of peaceful assembly,” said added the spokesperson.

Regarding the police abuses since April 28, the date on which the national strike began, the Swiss spokesperson recalled the functions that institutions such as the police must perform and declared: “We also stress that law enforcement officers must respect the principles of legality, precaution, necessity and proportionality when monitoring protests.” In addition, he mentioned the use of firearms; According to Hurtado, these should be used “as a last resort in the face of an imminent threat of death or serious injury” against a civilian.

Meanwhile, the Ombudsman’s office revealed that, between April 28 and May 1, Labor Day, have been reported 16 murders of civilians and one of the uniformed policemen of the municipality of Soacha, Cundinamarca, the captain Jesus Alberto Solano Beltrán, head of the criminal investigation section (Sijin).

In addition, the entity indicated, citing the reports of the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation and the National Police, which were presented 254 civilians Yes 457 police officers injured in all the countries, 364 captures Yes 30 arrests of minors, only between April 28 and May 1.

The results of the markets were distributed as follows: they were, in total, 1120 protest activities, of which 491 were concentrations, 304 steps, 248 locks and 76 mobilizations in 390 municipalities of the country of the 32 departments, in addition to the capital, Bogotá. These data have been confirmed by Unified national command post.

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