Human right violations in Colombian social mobilizations

 Colombian society reached its peak due to the tributary reform that was going to be implemented by Ministry of Hacienda, a proposed a tax reform, that  is necessary for the country, since its main objective is the generation of employment and the reduction of inequality,  seeking to improve the distribution of income, tax burden favoring lower-income Colombians, but this proposed reform aimed  to raise a total of more than 23 billion pesos, but with this strategy the people disagreed, as this reform proposed VAT for the family basket, communication technologies services, among others. 

This caused discomfort and preocupation among the Colombians, because there was a sentiment in citizens that the governments were not addressing problems that have been occuring in the country for many years, such as excesive use of violence by the police, woman mistreatment and abuse, inequality, sexual assaults, rape, terrorism in which lage social mobiliztions happened in which the citizens  use their right to protest, but what is unacceptable is that both civils and policial institutions specifically the ESMAD (mobile anti-disturbance unit) , where there have been many cases of police abuses, which involved, assassinations, rapes, among others. The active cases that the human rights organization Amnesty International is complaining to the international organizations are the following the vulneration of human rights situations that are happening in Colombia:

Amnesty International have reported previosly  incidents in which security forces use lethal and less lethal weapons indiscriminately, and despite multiple international condemnations against this evidence, the organization continues to document serious cases of excessive use of force against protesters.

As of 6 May, the NGO Temblores reported the violent deaths of 37 people, 1,708 cases of abuse of force, 26 victims of eye aggression, 234 victims of physical violence and 934 arbitrary arrests against protesters. They also reported that 11 people were victims of sexual violence, 22 victims of eye attacks, and 110 cases of firearm use agains civilians (Amnesty.org, 2021).

Amnesty International expresses concern that national government authorities have publicly stated that the demonstrations are for "terrorist" purposes and that, for this reason, excessive use of force against the population is justified. Moreover, statements from local authorities are  calling on civilians to raise their weapons against protesters is alarming and seems to justify the use of paramilitary strategies. This is not only in violation of human rights standards, but is an affront to all victims of paramilitary groups in a country that has the longest internal armed conflict on the continent. The stigmatization of social protest only creates repression and human rights violations, as well as an atmosphere of mistrust in the authorities that does not lead to the genuine establishment of channels of dialogue (Amnesty.org, 2021).

Amnesty International has signed a strong global petition from 650  civil society organizations demanding an exhaustive investigation into human rights violations in the context of repression, and calling on the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to request the colombian state's report to visit the country and to establish an independent mechanism of experts to work together to research the facts and ensure justice for victims (Amnesty.org, 2021). 

Colombian authorities must investigate any allegations of human rights violations and crimes of international law expeditiously, impartially and thoroughly, ensuring the rights and safety of victims and witnesses. Impunity should not prevail in the face of these serious crimes." International human rights standards are forceful to demand that the use of force by the police in the handling of demonstrations should be a last resort and guided by the principles of legality, necessity, proportionality and accountability. The use of force to maintain order in situations that do not pose a specific threat to the life or physical integrity of third parties is considered a disproportionate use of force, and therefore contrary to international standards.  

Concluiding, its  important to document all the situations to ensure that both civilians and public force officers do not act violent against each other and respect the right of life, Also ensure  that in the dialogue forum organized by the precidency with the social groups comformed can be stablished a clear framework to allow the citizens to participate in the country's policy with transparent and accountable democratic systems in which their opinion is considered in order to start shaping the country with collaborative efforts from the government and civil society.

References:

Preocupan las denuncias de desapariciones Y violencia sexual contra manifestantes en Colombia. (2021). Amnesty International. https://www.amnesty.org/es/latest/news/2021/05/colombia-preocupan-las-denuncias-de-desapariciones-y-violencia-sexual-contra-manifestantes/