Colombia
The rights to the truth, justice and reparation
In Colombia, impunity and limitations of access to justice continue to affect the country’s human rights situation(1) and are among principal impediments to a long term solution for displaced people. The RSG on the human rights of IDPs noted in his report following the mission to Colombia that:
Although forced displacement is a crime under Colombian law, allegedly less than 1 per cent of all criminal cases are prosecuted under this crime. In most cases, it is examined in connection with other crimes under Colombian criminal law and not on its own. The Representative felt that this practice disregards the fact that there are many IDPs who did not suffer additional human rights violations, other than being forcibly displaced. The Constitutional Court in sentence T-025 of 2004 declared that individuals forcibly displaced, in addition to other remedies for human rights violations, had rights to truth, justice and reparation as victims of the crime of forced displacement under Colombian law.(2)
More than 120,000 victims of crimes committed by members of paramilitary groups have registered their claims to be compensated within the framework of Law 975/2005 at the Attorney General’s office, but little progress has been made so far with no indictment issued in 2007.(3) The challenges are daunting: some victims claiming compensation for loss of land have been killed, while others have received death threats.
The high level of impunity and the poor progress in guaranteeing the right to the truth, justice and reparation of the displaced population are not in line with the Basic principles and guidelines on the right to a remedy and reparation for victims of gross violations of international human rights law and serious violations of international humanitarian law, adopted and proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in 2005 (4).
The right to justice
The four 1949 Geneva covenants and the first Additional Protocol state the obligation of the state to investigate and judge the responsible of grave breaches of humanitarian law (Covenant I, article 49; Covenant II, article 50; Covenant III, article 129; Covenant IV, article 146; Protocol I, article 85).
Back to topThe right to truth
Principle 1 to 4 of the Set of principles for the protection and promotion of human rights through action to combat impunity of Joinet, establish the “right to the truth”, “duty to remember” and “the right of any individual victim or closely related persons to know what happened”.
Back to topThe right to reparation
The Principle 33 establishes the “Rights and duties arising out of the obligation to make reparation” and determines that “any human rights violation gives rise to a right to reparation on the part of the victim or his or her beneficiaries, implying a duty on the part of the State to make reparation and the possibility for the victim to seek redress from the perpetrator” (2).
International recommendations on the right to truth, justice and integral reparation of the displaced people:
In order to resolve the climate of impunity that increases insecurity, the United Nations System has recommended repeatedly to the Government bring to justice the responsible for the crime of forced displacement .
Back to topUDHR Article 7
All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.
Back to topUDHR Article 8
Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.
I believe that they haven’t felt our pain or appreciated us as victims: on the contrary. They say that we have to forgive, that we have to forget. But neither the president nor any of his judges or advisers have suffered what, as a mother, I have suffered in losing a child, in the way they killed my daughter. .. Because I had a meeting in the vice-president’s office in Bogotá with Francisco Santos, Luis Alfonso Hoyos and a companion who is now in Canada and who is part Arhuaca, as well as my companion Leonora Castaño. And what they said to me is that there had to be forgiveness, that one even had to forgive Judas. As a mother, I stood up crying. I shouted at them, saying that because they hadn’t suffered the killing of a mother or a daughter, they didn’t feel other people’s pain. Because that’s what happened to me: they raped my daughter; they broke her hands so she couldn’t defend herself; they tortured her, they cut her chest and did everything else that could be done and it wasn’t just one man, but many. There were three cars and several men involved in the assassination of my daughter!...
Read moreBlancaYou'd be happy if you could die on your land, go back to your land and be there. That would be the best thing, the most important thing - but you can’t! It would be awful to die here.
I know that being displaced means you've had to leave, that you've lost many things, and that it would be really important for them to help you put everything right and help you get back what you've lost. (…)It's very unjust. Where's the compensation, the justice? You ask yourself: "Who's going to put this right? How are you going to put it right? If the truth is told, if there's justice and compensation, I think you can manage to forgive. But who are you going to forgive? Who? No, I don't think forgiveness exists here. There's just an acceptance, a passiveness on behalf of the person who's been harmed.
You look at the situation, and if it's not a policy constructed by the government, then what can it be? Where are the victims? The government hasn't acknowledged displacement, it still hasn't recognised it, despite the fact that we had to acknowledge the war for 10 years already. For the perpetrators, there are programmes, preferences, all kinds of things. That's why it must be a government policy. We can struggle to put things right, we can struggle for reparation and for the truth, but I don't think it will come to anything in this life, it won't come to anything. You have get people to consent, to live together harmoniously, but how can you do that with the victimizers all over the place, when you're rubbing shoulders with them, bumping into them?...
Read moreIsmaelThe state says that it hasn’t been a displacer, that it has nothing to do with that, that the conflict is of the paramilitaries and the guerrillas, and not the state. But the bombings carried out in the zone haven’t been carried out by the guerrillas or the paramilitaries: it’s the state that has bombed the zone and given the orders and expelled the people. Certain things have to be considered that have not been considered by researchers and others who say they want to help, who want to bring to light what’s happening in Colombia and achieve peace. (…)
As far as the Justice and Peace Law and reinsertion, I think that they made the majority of Colombian people believe that the paramilitaries were a group that was very separate from the state. But for us who’ve experienced displacement in the different hamlets and departments, it’s apparent that those are only words, that in truth they are the same thing. It’s a law of impunity through which the paramilitaries are becoming legalized. And with respect to what you had or who displaced you, nobody tells you anything. The government says. “No, it’s the paramilitaries,” but the paramilitaries don’t accept the charges. And that’s not what justices demands, nor what the people who know who did it ...
I demand, in the first instance, that the truth be known about what happened and why we were displaced; about what was really behind all this. Secondly, that both the material and intellectual author of this be punished, because that’s something that you don’t understand: Today, with this law, there is no material or intellectual author. It’s like if I acknowledge that I’m displaced, then I’m displaced. And if I don’t acknowledge that I’m displaced, than I’m not...
Read moreCarlosI think those things are unforgettable. Though they’re not always present, they’re in your heart and your mind. It’s not something you can just forget from one moment to the next; I think it’s something you can never forget ... Yea, I think you can never forget. Forget my brother, forget my sister, forget what we lived through and all those people who are no longer around ..? No, no, no...! (…)
I think those people have black hearts and should pay for what they’ve done, that they should be punished. Yes, they deserve to be punished, to pay for what they’ve done. Because they aren’t good people; they are bad, too bad to be living amongst others. They’ve destroyed the lives of innocent people, people who didn’t have anything to do with them. So I think they should be punished, that they should pay for what they’ve done.
I don’t think anything can be done to repair the damage, no matter what they do. How will they return my dead brothers to life? No matter what they do, life won’t be like it was before; it won’t be the same. What I mean is that our community has been marked forever. What happened is unforgettable. We’ll never forget it, and it will always be on our minds”....
Read moreJuan
(1) Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the situation of human rights in Colombia, A/HRC/7/39, 29 February 2008, paragraph 4, 12.
(2) Report of the Representative of the Secretary-General on the human rights of internally displaced persons, Walter Kälin, Addendum: Mission to Colombia, A/HRC/4/38/Add.3, 24 January 2007, paragraph 40.
(3) Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the situation of human rights in Colombia, A/HRC/7/39, 29 February 2008, paragraphs 17-20.
(4) A/Res/60/147 of 21 March 2006:
VII. Victims’ right to remedies
(...)
- Remedies for gross violations of international human rights law and serious violations of international humanitarian law include the victim’s right to the following as provided for under international law:
(a) Equal and effective access to justice;
(b) Adequate, effective and prompt reparation for harm suffered;
(c) Access to relevant information concerning violations and reparation mechanisms.
VIII. Access to justice
(...)
- A victim of a gross violation of international human rights law or of a serious violation of international humanitarian law shall have equal access to an effective judicial remedy as provided for under international law. Other remedies available to the victim include access to administrative and other bodies, as well as mechanisms, modalities and proceedings conducted in accordance with domestic law. Obligations arising under international law to secure the right to access justice and fair and impartial proceedings shall be reflected in domestic laws.
X. Access to relevant information concerning violations and reparation mechanisms
(...)
- States should develop means of informing the general public and, in particular, victims of gross violations of international human rights law and serious violations of international humanitarian law of the rights and remedies addressed by these Basic Principles and Guidelines and of all available legal, medical, psychological, social, administrative and all other services to which victims may have a right of access. Moreover, victims and their representatives should be entitled to seek and obtain information on the causes leading to their victimization and on the causes and conditions pertaining to the gross violations of international human rights law and serious violations of international humanitarian law and to learn the truth in regard to these violations.
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