Executive Summary Protection of Human Rights Defenders in Rural Contexts by Comité Permanente por la Defensa De Los Derechos Humanos

COMITÉ PERMANENTE POR LA DEFENSA DE LOS DERECHOS HUMANOS

Organización con Estatus Consultivo ante ECOSOC – Miembro de la FIDH Carrera. 6 No. 12 – 21 Bogotá D.C. – Colombia – Suramérica. Teléfono 2862702/04 web: www.comitepermanente.org – mail: info@comitepermanente.org

Executive Summary Protection of Human Rights Defenders in Rural Contexts

What is it? -

A project carried out by the Comité Permanente por la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos (CPDH, in English: Permanent Committee for the Defense of Human Rights) with the support of the British Embassy in Colombia. Its objective is to put forth a proposal for an effective protection of human rights defenders in rural contexts on the part of the State.

Methodology -

Fieldwork that included regional workshops and the first national survey on the risky situation of nearly 200 rural human rights defenders and their perception of protection and security in 12 departamentos in 5 regions of the country (Caribe, southeast, south, southwest and northeast Colombia)

Main findings -

8 in 10 human rights defenders in rural contexts feel stigmatized because of their work and 9 in 10 feel their organizations are subject to unjustified accusations as a result of their work 1 in 4 of the surveyed human rights defenders (49, which amounts to 24.62%) claims having knowledge of some kind of attack against the sexual integrity of members of his/her organization or the community in which he/she works. This is extremely worrying seeing as such attacks are a direct consequence of the work they carry out as human rights defenders. What is even more worrying is that these findings must be seen against the background of the already existent statistics on sexual violence and the fear that comes with reporting such crimes, owing to the stigma attached to the women and their families. Contrary to what is commonly believed, threats and aggressions against family members affect men (7.82% of respondents) as well as women, although in the case of the latter, the numbers are somewhat higher (10.16%). In addition, women consider attacks against their families as attacks against themselves. One woman stated that she would give up her work if her children were threatened. Arbitrary detentions affect more men (40.87%) than women (22.03%).

COMITÉ PERMANENTE POR LA DEFENSA DE LOS DERECHOS HUMANOS

Women tend to ignore subtle aggressions and indirect threats (being followed or harassed), which implies a greater risk for them: As a result of historically discriminative patterns and social pressure, women try to demonstrate “strength” before their community by simply accepting or concealing indirect security incidents in order to avoid concerns amongst their peers. Only about half of the female victims (55.93%) reported attacks against them; for men the number was 70.43% Male human rights defenders are subject to more attacks and aggressions than women; among the respondents, 93.04% of the men indicated having been victim of some sort of violation, and in the case of women it was 82.05%. Both figures are extremely high and illustrate the high degree of intolerance towards the exercise of human rights defense in the regions. During the regional meetings, the participating human rights defenders stated that they did not feel like citizens or that this category was limited to people living in the cities. This issue needs to be addressed by the State in order to recognize peasant farmers as citizens and guarantee the effective enjoyment of the rights and responsibilities attached to this recognition. In addition, the majority of threats and aggressions against human rights defenders revolve around three main issue areas: the armed conflict; the extraction/exploitation of agricultural and natural resources (gold, oil); and land control

Main Aggressors of Human Rights Defenders in Rural Contexts -

The military and paramilitary successor groups alternate as the main aggressors of human rights defenders; in the cases of individually surveyed persons the main aggressor was the military, followed by paramilitary groups and unknown aggressors. In the cases of organizations, the main aggressors were paramilitary groups, followed by the military and unknown aggressors. As already mentioned, the military, paramilitary groups and unknown aggressors overlap in many cases, as one identifies with the other. -

Paramilitary successor groups: 50% of the respondents accused paramilitary successor groups of the threats or aggressions their organizations or communities were subjected to, and 35.63% accused unknown aggressors. In individual cases, 37.22% stated having been victims of paramilitary threats or aggressions, and 26.27% stated having been victims of unknown aggressors.

COMITÉ PERMANENTE POR LA DEFENSA DE LOS DERECHOS HUMANOS

Paramilitary successor groups and unknown groups usually make death threats (65.51% of the victims) or threats of displacement (33.33%) against human rights defenders, mostly in the form of pamphlets (66.32%) or telephone calls (64.97%). In some cases, the threats were also made in person (45.97%). -

Public Forces: According to the data of the fieldwork, the national army is one of the main aggressors of human rights defenders in rural contexts, making up almost half of the cases (42.36% in terms of individual threats and 45.97% in terms of threats against social organizations). This number is shocking when taking into account that this is the first survey tailored to human rights defenders in the regions, and it calls for an institutional and governmental response that must go beyond the creation of a protection plan to adequately address this situation. The national police is also registered as an aggressor of human rights defenders, but to a lower degree. 20.11% of the respondents accuse the police of aggressions in the case of organizations, and 18.97% accuse them of aggressions in individual cases. Threats from the police are usually made in person (51.47%), although they are also frequently made through pamphlets or public statements that single out certain members of organizations (33.82%). In these cases, many threats are related to judicializations (32.25%), although many also constitute death threats (51.47%) or threats of displacement (32.35%).

Guerrillas Insurgent groups are responsible for a lower number of aggressions, both in terms of individual respondents (6.56%) and members of their organizations or communities (19.54%). These were cases of death threats or threats of displacement related to stigmatization and accusations of cooperating with the public forces or members of another guerrilla group. Some regions exhibit territorial disputes between the communities and the guerrilla, which are related to the control of resources or strategically important areas (such as borders).

COMITÉ PERMANENTE POR LA DEFENSA DE LOS DERECHOS HUMANOS

Perceptions of the Governmental Protection Programs -

43.67% of respondents described the protection program as bad and 30.45% described it as regular. The majority of respondents (81.45%) consider the protective measures as inadequate for their contexts and their realities (this is further analyzed in subchapter 3 of this document) Many of the protective measures’ deficiencies are persistent, seeing as they have been criticized for a long time. Some of them include: impunity, unjustified judicializations, stigmatization of human rights defenders and their work (including from the government), excessive bureaucracy, tardy implementation of the measures, the inconsistency with the results of many risk assessments and the use of escorts against human rights defenders as intelligence agents (Protection International, 2011). Even though knowledge of the National Protection Unit is relatively high (64.94%), many respondents did not know the name of the entity responsible for implementation, but they did know of certain protective measures, such as cell phones, protection schemes and vests. This illustrates that the National Protection Unit is not very renowned in rural areas, something that could be interpreted as discrimination and neglect towards the protected population in these regions. Although the number of human rights defenders that claim to have suffered some type of violation is extremely high (90.22%), only 36.20% of the respondents requested protection. This also applies to cases of threats (62.94%, but only 35% asked for protection).

Some recommendations -

A campaign to legitimize and acknowledge human rights defenders, particularly those working in rural contexts, in order to counter the high degree of stigmatization, which is the main catalyst of attacks against rural defenders Guidelines promulgated by all governmental entities to further the respect and guarantees of the work carried out by human rights defenders The attorney general’s office should address the high levels of impunity in cases related to aggressions against human rights defenders as well as the lack of judicial guarantees in legal proceedings against human rights defenders Recognition of peasant farmers as political subjects Strengthen the Zonas de Reserva Campesina (“peasant farmer reserve zones”) and recognition of other, similar collective areas, such as agri-food zones.

COMITÉ PERMANENTE POR LA DEFENSA DE LOS DERECHOS HUMANOS

Establish permanent, direct and official communication channels with those in charge of human rights within the public forces and other governmental institutions Strengthen the early warning system of the ombudsman office and integrate it with the protection program Implement human rights and international humanitarian law training for members of the public forces with a perspective from national and international jurisprudence. Creation of an agency to evaluate the effectiveness of the protective measures. Public hearings: participative mechanisms used frequently by communities and organizations in order to present complaints regarding the governmental institutions, including human rights violations that occur in the region Facilitate the presence of international organizations dedicated to protective accompaniment Humanitarian missions and verification commissions Strengthen organizational and community capacities Implement measures to guarantee safe and permanent livelihoods of individuals, communities and organizations in the territories

Specific Measures for Prevention and Protection Prevention: -

Training Wide dissemination of the functions and limitations of the military within battalions and checkpoints Creation and broadcast of community channels on subjects related to human rights

Protection: -

Professional support for human rights defenders in judicial proceedings Accreditation tools Mobilization tools Collective protection points in the territories Warning and communication tools Individuals/organizations in charge of protection Architectural and protective measures tailored to the conditions in the territories/housing Improved infrastructure Human rights offices Registration tools