Colombia used “excessive” force against protesters: IACHR | Human Rights News

Bogota Colombia – The Colombian government used “excessive and disproportionate” force throughout the year mass protests earlier this year, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) said in a long-awaited report released on Wednesday.

The IACHR, an autonomous body of the Organization of American States, called on the South American nation to make structural changes to its militarized police force because it has been accused. committing “horrible” abuses against the protesters.

“The state’s response was the use of excessive and disproportionate force, in many cases including deadly force,” IACHR President Antonia Urrejola said at a press conference.

Protests known as the Paro Nacional erupted in April as a setback a controversial tax reform bill and differences caused by the pandemic.

After the peaceful demonstrations largely provoked a strong reaction from the police forces, the protests quickly took off it became a reaction to state violence, The South American country takes months.

Human Rights Watch has confirmed that 34 people – mostly protesters and civilians – were killed during the protest. This number of deaths by other entrepreneurial organizations is even higher.

Other alleged human rights violations, sexual abuse by riot police, forced disappearances and numerous injuries prompted a visit to the human rights panel in early June.

The highly critical IACHR report conducted a detailed investigation into the state’s response to the protests, including the testimonies of more than 500 people at protest sites such as government officials, human rights defenders and victims of violence. Cities of Cali and Bogota.

The commission documented that it has separated weapons against law enforcement protesters and civilians non-participation in protests, gender-based violence and the use of violence against journalists and medical staff.

He even called President Ivan DuqueTo investigate the abuses of the administration and to protect the right to protest.

The report was welcomed by international observers like Gimena Sánchez-Garzoli, director of the Andean Latin American Office in Washington, and said the report also dismisses the narrative that Duque and his party say the protesters are vandals and criminals.

“They blame the opposition, they blame everyone and they don’t look inward,” Sánchez-Garzoli said. “I think this report shows that the position is not what the international community supports.”

The human rights panel offered more than 40 recommendations to the Colombian government, mostly asking the Colombian police to separate them from the country’s military.

Like the military, the Colombian police are under the jurisdiction of the country’s defense ministry, the result of decades of armed conflict.

But this structure has militarized law enforcement, especially riot police, ESMAD. It has been heavily criticized by Colombian public and international observers.

Colombian Risk Analysis Director Sergio Guzmán said the recommendations “give credibility” to long-standing calls to demilitarize police forces.

“In a country in conflict it makes sense to have all the military and police authorities under the same chain of command, but this is not the case today,” Guzman said.

The Duke has it he ordered police reforms including increased officer training and different disciplinary standards for officers, Guzman doubts that the Duque administration will implement many of the suggestions made in the report.

The government has no longer rejected any suggestions, and Duque and his party members criticized the report on Wednesday morning for “acts of vandalism” and “denunciation.”road blocks that violate the rights of citizens ”.

“No one can recommend that a country be tolerant of criminal acts,” the president told a group of reporters on Tuesday.

While the protest organizers did the demonstrations were temporarily suspended, Guzman announced that there will only be more protests if no significant change is made on the horizon.

“The reasons people are protesting are unresolved: unemployment, inequality, corruption, urban poverty,” he said. “Since there is no police reform – how the police do their job, how the police deal with protests – it is likely to be the cause of future unrest.”