/brev-Foro-menneskerettighetsrdet-20122

Oslo, 27.2.2012 Dear Sir/Madam

On March 2 the High Commissioner for Human Rights will present the annual report on Colombia during the 19th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council. Norway should use this opportunity to voice its concerns about the Human Rights situation in Colombia.

Since the inauguration of President Juan Manuel Santos in 2010 there have been several positive developments in Colombia, but the overall Human Rights situation in Colombia remains alarming.

The following situations are of particular concern:

Forced displacement continues at an alarming rate The armed conflict and generalized violence in Colombia continue to cause displacement and a humanitarian crisis.

In 2010 approximately 280 000 civilians were forcefully displaced from their lands and their homes according to the civil society organization CODHES (Consultoría para los Derechos Humanos y el Desplazamiento). CODHES preliminary displacement figures for 2011 show that more than 300,000 persons were displaced in 2011 and they recorded 74 massive displacements 1 in 2011. The hardest hit regions were Cauca, Nariño, Cordoba, Antioquia and Valle de Cauca.

Cumulative figures suggest that Colombia now has close to 5,500,000 IDPs - the highest number of IDPs in the world - the great majority of which are women and children. 2 Displacement figures are one of the most reliable indicators of a continuous protection and humanitarian crisis in Colombia.

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The Colombian government needs to strengthen its prevention and protection efforts to prevent future displacements and properly assist and protect those who have become displaced

80% of the human rights violations that have occurred in Colombia in the last ten years were committed in mining and energy-producing regions, and 87% of Colombia’s displaced population originates from these places. 3 The hardest hit regions were Cauca, Nariño, Cordoba, Antioquia and Valle de Cauca.

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The Colombian government needs to strengthen its prevention and protection efforts to prevent future displacements and more effectively assist and protect those who have become displaced

Systematic assassinations of victims of forced displacement

1

Affecting more than 50 individuals Different sources use different estimates when describing the total population of IDPs in Colombia. The Government has been keeping records since 1997, while civil society has been registering forced displacements since 1985.

3 PBI report in December 2011, http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/21014-colombias-mining-boom-overshadowed-byhuman-rights-violations-report.html 2

In 2011 28 victims of forced displacement involved in processes of land restitution were assassinated.

While the passing of “Ley de Victimas y Restitución de Tierras” in 2011 is a significant improvement for the rights of the victims of the conflict, it also entails an increased risk for the potential benefactors 4. Afro-Colombians and indigenous peoples are particularly affected. The government has not been sufficiently responsive to this development.

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The Colombian government should lower the threshold for providing adequate protection, and pursue those responsible for these assassinations more effectively

Systematic assassinations of human rights defenders and trade unionists The situation of human rights defenders (victims' organizations, journalists, lawyers, and community leaders) continues to be of serious concern. Individual attacks against defenders increased by 126% in the first half of 2011, when compared with the same period in 2010. Colombia also continues to be the country with the highest death rate of unionists in the world. In 2010 and 2011 80 unionists were killed because of their work, and only in January 2012 another 4 were assassinated5.

In

approximately

90

%

of

the

cases

the

perpetrators

are

not

held

accountable.

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The Colombian government should provide adequate protection for those whose lives are being threatened, and hold those responsible legally accountable.

Impunity for military abuses Members of the Colombian Army killed 2.788 civilians in 2004 – 2008, and reported them as combatants killed in combat. High-ranking officials have been held accountable, but convictions have only been achieved in a small number of cases, 77 out of 1.622. Those responsible for these heinous crimes need to be held accountable.

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The government should allocate sufficient recourses to expeditiously process all cases of extrajudicial killings committed by members of the Colombian Army, past and present

Continuation of the internal armed conflict Colombia is at war, and as long as the conflict persists the Human Rights situation will continue to be worrying. The guerillas (FARC and ELN) continue to use landmines, and consequently Colombia is one of the countries most affected by the use of these indiscriminate weapons of war 6. They are also responsible for forced displacements and/or confinement of populations, targeted assassinations, and for recruiting children. The paramilitaries and their successor groups continue to forcefully displace small farmers, massacre villagers, rape women, assassinate unionists and Humans Rights defenders, and recruit children.

The Colombian government has made certain improvements in the security situation, but the illegal armed actors persist and continue to engage in armed activities on a daily basis. In 2010 the violence caused by illegal armed groups increased. This development continued throughout 2011 and in the 4

The complete text is available at www.mij.gov.co/Ministerio/Library/Resource/Documents/ProyectosAgendaLegistaliva/LeyVíctimas420.pdf 5 Sinaltrainal, 6 February 2012, www.sinaltrainal.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2164&Itemid=48 6 According to UNICEF Colombia had the highest casualty rate in the world in 2007, and the rates continue to be alarmingly high www.unicef.org/infobycountry/colombia_39301.html , www.accioncontraminas.gov.co/Paginas/estadisticas-victimas-int.html

first months of 2012. As in all armed conflicts, the civilians are paying the cost. There is a need to recognize that military solutions only are not viable, and that a sustainable peace can only be achieved if negotiated.

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Recognition for the key role of civil society, and particularly women, in conflict resolution and peace building, and Initiate a process aiming to enable a negotiated peace with the illegal armed actors.

Considering Norway’s good relations with Colombia and the ongoing negotiations on the bilateral free trade agreement it is important that Norway use this opportunity to urge Colombia to take concrete steps to improve the situations outlined above.

Kind Regards Norwegian Refugee Council Norwegian People’s Aid FOKUS, Forum for Women and Development Caritas Norway Peace Brigades International, PBI Norway Norwegian Students’ and Academics’ International Assistance Fund, SAIH The Norwegian Human Rights Fund, NHRF Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, WILPF Norway