News & Resources

2010

March

ABColombia welcomes the FCO Annual Report on Human Rights, 2009

In March, the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, David Miliband, presented the British government’s Annual Report on Human Rights 2009.

The Colombia chapter focuses on 5 key areas, human rights defenders and civil society groups, impunity, internally displaced people, indigenous rights and extrajudicial killings.

ABColombia shares the British government’s assessment that the overall human rights situation in Colombia “remains a serious concern” and that illegal armed groups continue to represent a severe threat to human rights and law.

ABColombia welcomes the support given by the British government, and reiterated in their Annual Report, for the ‘Campaign for the Right to Defend Human Rights’, which focuses specifically on the problems faced by human rights defenders in Colombia.

The analysis that the ABColombia organisations have undertaken recently, along with the reports of the UN Special Rapporteurs and partner organisations, all lead us to conclude, as the British government does in this report, that there are "underlying structural problems which limit the enjoyment of human rights”, particularly with regard to exclusion, marginality, poverty, inequality, land ownership, impunity and a lack of access to justice.

With this in mind ABColombia has to ask why the British government is not pressurising the EU to suspend the ratification of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) (read more on ABColombia’s position on the FTA) between the EU and Colombia until the human rights situation in Colombia has improved.

Read the FCO Annual Report on Human Rights 2009

13th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), Geneva, 1 - 26 March 2010

In December 2008, the Government of Colombia was examined during by the United Nations Human Rights Council through the mechanism of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR). more from ABColombia

At this time ABColombia supported a written submission by the International Office for Human Rights - Action on Colombia (OIDHACO) which highlighted areas of particular concern regarding the human rights situation in Colombia, including violence against women, the rights of victims and the rule of law, and attacks against human rights defenders.

ABColombia also shared a number of key recommendations with the UK and Irish governments -as they prepared their own questions and recommendations to put to the Government of Colombia.

ABColombia has been closely following the implementation of those recommendations and recently prepared written submissions to the UK (together with Peace Brigades International) and Irish governments in advance of the 13th Session of the UNHRC which is currently meeting in Geneva.

ABColombia and PBI UK review of recommendations made by the UK Government download PDF here

ABColombia review of recommendations made by the Irish Government download PDF here

During the 13th Session there were two important moments for discussions on Colombia:

During the presentation of the Report of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on the Situation of Human Rights in Colombia. 4 March 2010. Access in English and in Spanish

During the presentation of the Report of the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders Margaret Sekaggya. Addendum Mission to Colombia (7-18 September 2009). 4 March 2010. Access in English

The Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders conducted a country visit to Colombia from 7 to 18 September 2009 to assess the situation of human rights defenders in Colombia.

She pointed out that human rights defenders face persistent insecurity in their work and have been stigmatised by high ranking public officials.

She also drew attention to the illegal surveillance by the state intelligence service and of the judicial harassment, arbitrary arrest and detention of human rights defenders as well as raids of non-governmental organizations' (NGOs) premises and theft of information.

Also available is the report of the UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of Indigenous Peoples, James Anaya, following his 2009 Mission to Colombia. 8 January 2010. Available in Spanish

Professor Anaya’s report echoed his predecessor’s concerns on the situation faced by Colombia’s indigenous peoples; “Colombia’s indigenous peoples find themselves in a grave, critical and profoundly worrying human rights situation.”

He also called on the government to invite the UN Special Advisor on the Prevention of Genocide to visit Colombia to report on the situation faced by the country’s indigenous peoples at risk of extinction.