Human rights in Colombia
Colombia is a sovereign state situated in South America. It has been a member of the United Nations since 5 November 1945, and is party to a variety of international agreements concerning human rights. It also has a series of domestic laws concerning the protection of human rights. However, Colombia’s human rights record often contradicts directly with the laws and agreements to which it is bound; Colombia is widely referred to as the country with the ‘worst human rights record in the western hemisphere’. In the UK Foreign Office annual human rights report for 2010, Colombia features as one of 20 ‘Countries of Concern’.
Two international treaties concerning human rights were established by the United Nations in 1966: the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights with its two Optional Protocols and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. These two treaties, together with the Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR), make up the International Bill of Human Rights. Colombia signed both treaties in 1966, with their ratification being completed in October 1969.
In 1961, Colombia ratified the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 that form the basis of International Humanitarian Law and the two additional protocols of 1977 were ratified in 1993 and 1995 respectively. As of September 2011, Colombia had not signed up to the third additional protocol of 2005.
As well as detailing the right of Colombian citizens to fundamental rights (e.g. right to life, equality before the law), the constitution mentions the right to economic, social and cultural rights (e.g. labour rights, right to education, rights for groups in need of special protection), as well as collective and environmental rights. It recognizes special rights for indigenous populations, it allows for citizens to take direct legal action against the state with a right to what is known as the tutela, it creates the Constitutional Court, and it determines the existence of posts for human rights ombudsmen. The constitution of 1991 allows, in theory at least, for the human rights of Colombia’s citizens to be protected under national constitutional law.
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