With the Support of Race & Equality, Civil Society Organizations Prepare to Submit Reports on the State of Colombian Women’s Human Rights to CEDAW

With the Support of Race & Equality, Civil Society Organizations Prepare to Submit Reports on the State of Colombian Women’s Human Rights to CEDAW

In September 2018, the International Institute on Race, Equality, and Human Rights (Race & Equality), within the framework of the project on racial justice funded by the Ford Foundation, held a training workshop to increase knowledge regarding the United Nations System, especially with regard to its treaty bodies.  The participating organizations included Asociación Nacional de Afrocolombianos Desplazados [National Association of Displaced Afro-Colombians] (AFRODES); Conferencia Nacional de Organizaciones Afrocolombianas [National Conference of Afro-Colombian Organizations] (CNOA); and Grupo de Apoyo a Mujeres Trans [Support Group for Trans Women] (GAAT).

The goal of the space was to strengthen the organizations’ technical knowledge regarding the United Nations System treaty bodies.  Emphasis was placed on the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), given that the State of Colombia will be reviewed by the Committee in February 2019.  One of the results of the project is that with technical assistance from Race & Equality, the organizations will prepare Alternative Reports for submittal to the Committee.  The hope is that this advocacy action will lead CEDAW to include in its final review and observations the analyses and recommendations put forward by the organizations in their Alternative Reports.

CEDAW is the body of independent experts that supervises the application of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.  The advocacy before CEDAW is greatly relevant to the organizations participating in this workshop, given the low priority given by the Colombian State to policies recognizing aggravated forms of discrimination and violence stemming from the intersection of gender, race, and/or sexual orientation and gender identity.  For AFRODES and CNOA, the attention given by CEDAW to the state of Afro-Colombian women victims of the conflict amounts to a strategic need, while it is a priority to GATT to make visible the state of trans women.

Race & Equality will continue to provide technical support to these organizations in the process of preparing their Alternative Reports for submittal to CEDAW, as well as strengthen their advocacy capacity as regards the use of the other international human rights protection mechanisms.

Find here the recommendations document:  http://bdigital.unal.edu.co/47500/1/Recomendacionesdelcomite.pdf

October 26: International Intersex Awareness Day

Within the framework of International Intersex Awareness Day, the International Institute on Race, Equality, and Human Rights (Race & Equality) calls for an end to the discrimination, exclusion, torture, patholization, unnecessary medicalization, and ‘invisibilization’ of intersex persons and their families in the region.  In this sense, Race & Equality reminds [people] that intersex persons are those whose sexual anatomy does not physically adjust to culturally-defined standards for the ‘feminine’ or ‘masculine’ body.  Having said that, what does that actually mean?  We set forth some questions and answers below so as to best approach this issue:

Is intersexuality the same as hermaphroditism?

No.  Although in the cultural imagination hermaphroditism is associated with the figure in Greek literature that has external sexual characteristics associated with the presence of a penis, a vulva, and breasts, in fact in botany and zoology hermaphroditism refers to the reproductive capacity of a plant or animal that can even self-inseminate.  When we refer to people, there is consensus in the scientific community that it is more appropriate to refer to intersexuality.  Some activists, such as Mauro Cabral, prefer to refer to themselves as intersex persons, thereby lending political value to this discussion beyond medical-legal discussions.

 Is intersexuality the same as transgenderism?

 No.  Although both concepts can converge, it is important to have a clear understanding that:

  1. Intersexuality is a biological characteristic that is associated with persons’ genetic and corporeal development (what we traditionally have called ‘sex’) and can be externally visible in the body of a person from the moment of his/her birth.
  2. Transgenderism is more associated with how a person constructs him/herself over the course of his/her life and how he/she presents him/herself to society (what we refer to as ‘gender identity’), although this process can include corporeal interventions to bring the body more into agreement with the [person’s] gender identity.

If intersexuality is biological and innate to a person, why is it necessary to have an intersex day?

  1. It is important to keep in mind that despite the fact that intersexuality if a biological reality, many people are not aware of this fact and by extension, of the existence of intersex persons.
  2. The denial of this biological reality in the educational arena (it is not taught from a young age) is also reflected in the legal sphere, which only recognizes ‘two biological sexes,’ even though the reality is much broader than that; this produces important consequences in the lives of intersex persons.
  3. The origin of this day dates back to 1996 when intersex activists protested in front of the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Pediatrics in Boston against the genital mutilations and hormonal treatments performed on intersex persons at an early age without their informed consent.

Are intersex persons the victims of human rights violations?

Yes.  Intersex persons have been the victims of multiple violations reflected in various spheres of their lives:

  1. Their existence is denied in the legal and medical arenas, given that in many countries only two sexes are legally recognized: male and female. Nonetheless, this is changing with the recognition of gender neutrality.
  2. As a result of the foregoing, surgical procedures are imposed on intersex persons from a very early age. Current protocols are applied to them, even though that means carrying out unnecessary surgical interventions with the intention of ‘normalizing’ their genitals, without the person first giving his/her informed consent.  It should be noted that these interventions give rise to irreversible consequences in the emotional, physical, and sexual life of those individuals, including sterilization and genital mutilation, without them being medically necessary in the great majority of the cases.
  3. Human rights protection entities – such as the United Nations and the Inter-American Commission – have documents grave violations of intersex persons’ human rights, above all with relation to discrimination, ‘invisibilization,’ the lack of official information, medical treatments they tend to receive since birth and throughout the course of their lives, barriers to accessing their medical charts, and even difficulty with obtaining recognition of their legal status in public identity registries.
  4. According to the testimonies of diverse intersex persons, the nature of the interventions oftentimes gives rise to the need for multiple surgeries at different times in their lives, producing chronic pain, possible health problems, and the need to carry out extremely invasive routine procedures comparable to cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment or torture.

For all of these reasons, Race & Equality condemns the patholization and childhood genital mutilation practices endured by some intersex persons, and calls on the States in the region to assume their international obligations without further delay to protect human rights and comprehensively recognize, guarantee, and protect, with no patholization and in consultation with intersex persons, their human rights.

Race and Equality Congratulates Caribe Afirmativo for the Release of its Report, “Enterezas”

Washington, D.C. October 24, 2018. The International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality) congratulates Caribe Afirmativo, a civil society organization in Colombia, for the release of its report, “Enterezas” (“Strengths”). The report is the result of intensive field work to highlight the voices of lesbian, bisexual, and trans women of the Caribbean region of Colombia, the Dominican Republic, and Honduras and proposes strategies to improve the response to violence committed against these women.

The report was presented during a conference in Barranquilla, held from October 22-24, where lesbian, bisexual, and trans women from the eight departments of the Caribbean region of Colombia participated. The women, who represented various local civil society organizations, had the opportunity to share experiences and network. They also heard from various representatives of Colombian and international organizations that work to improve the rights of LGBTI persons, including Race and Equality, PROMSEX from Peru, and Aireana from Paraguay. A representative from the Rapporteurship on the Rights of LGBTI Persons from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights also participated in the conference, as well as the Mexican activist Amaranta Gomez.

Violence against lesbian and bisexual women is not well understood or documented, and therefore, the violence against these women as well as trans women all too frequently remains in impunity. Caribe Afirmativo’s report is a significant step to help these women access justice and make public all types of violence they suffer.

Race and Equality emphatically denounces violence motivated by prejudice against lesbian, bisexual, and trans women and reiterates our commitment to support them in efforts aimed toward the promotion and recognition of their rights.

More information about the report here:  http://caribeafirmativo.lgbt/2018/10/22/mujeres-lbt-del-caribe-se-reunen-encuentro-regional-enterezas/ 

 

The Colombian state’s failure to protect the rights of displaced Afro-Colombian communities denounced before the IACHR

Boulder, Colorado. October 3, 2018. The National Association of Displaced Afro-Colombians (AFRODES) and the Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality) denounced the ongoing humanitarian crisis of displaced Afro-Colombian communities and the failure of the Colombian State to provide these communities with protection measures and reparations during a public hearing before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).

Pedro Cortés-Ruiz, Colombia representative of Race and Equality, stated that AFRODES had first come to the IACHR over ten years ago to present the alarming effects that the Colombian armed conflict was having on Afro-Colombian communities, who were being displaced, and predicted that the situation would worsen unless the Colombian State adopted public policies with a specific approach. Ten years later, the situation remains critical. According to Mr. Cortés-Ruiz, over 25% of displaced persons are Afro-descendants.  This is roughly two million people, the largest group of victims of the Colombian armed conflict. Currently, the majority of these individuals live in marginalized sectors of larger cities and are subject to violence, despite the ongoing implementation of the Peace Accord.

During the hearing, Martha Jordan of AFRODES Cali described the grave violations of human rights being committed against children and youth in Afro-Colombian communities. Children and youth in these communities often experience criminal violence associated with drug micro-trafficking, and face problems such as drug addiction, prostitution, family violence and forced recruitment. “These human rights violations against displaced Afro-Colombian children and youth are evidence that the Colombian State has not done enough to guarantee reparation and non-repetition for our communities. The conditions needed for our culture’s survival continue to be destroyed. Our children and youth should be the generation of hope, but instead they are being destroyed physically and culturally,” said the AFRODES representative.

Luz Marina Becerra, AFRODES Secretary and Coordinator of the Coordination of Afro-Colombian Displaced Women in Resistance (COMADRE), reminded the IACHR that the Colombian Constitutional Court has already recognized the disproportionate impact that the armed conflict had had on Afro-Colombian women in Judgment 092/2008, which orders the State to implement specific programs of protection and reparation.  However, Ms. Becerra revealed that these orders have not been followed by the State. Furthermore, the Collective Reparations Plan for COMADRE has not been properly implemented. The failure of the Colombian government to comply has contributed to the increase in vulnerability of Afro-Colombian women who are victims of displacement.

In this sense, Vice-President of AFRODES Erlendy Cuero Bravo explained the continued risk suffered by Afro-Colombian human rights defenders of displaced communities. She highlighted that hundreds of assassinations of social leaders are committed during the implementation of the Peace Accord. Patterns of violence can be identified, such as assassinations being preceded by threats, as happened in the case of AFRODES Prosecutor Bernardo Cuero. AFRODES’ Vice-President emphasized the failure of the State to implement collective protection measures for organizations like AFRODES, places human rights defenders at greater risk and prevents them from carrying out their work in their communities.

In order to address the human rights violations of displaced Afro-Colombian communities living in larger cities, AFRODES recommends that the Colombian government to diligently implement the orders of the Colombian Constitutional Court issued over ten years ago, specifically, the programs and plans directed in Judgments 005/2009 and 092/2008. Likewise, they stressed the need to implement a specific program for Afro-Colombian children and youth and to guarantee the implementation of the Collective Reparations Plan for COMADRE.

The representatives of the Colombian State did not directly respond to the concerns raised during the hearing by AFRODES and Race and Equality, and only presented statistics on advances in programs associated with Afro-Colombian communities. However, these programs do not directly target displaced Afro-Colombian communities who live in marginalized sectors of larger cities. In addition, the State did not provide an update on the status of the implementation of Judgments 05/2009 and 092/2008 and were vague about the coordination efforts with AFRODES and COMADRE.

The IACHR Commissioners who presided over the hearing highlighted the seriousness and complexity of the causes and impacts of forced displacement of Afro-Colombian communities. They also emphasized that the Colombian government must prioritize attention to these communities through all institutional mechanisms. As such, they requested more detailed and complete information from the State on these mechanisms.

Race and Equality positively values the hearing as well as the fact that the IACHR was able to hear again from Afro-Colombian communities who are obscured within the larger context of human rights violations in Colombia. However, the responses by the Colombian State on the lack of priority for the implementation of the judgments issued over ten years ago remains worrisome. Race and Equality will continue to support AFRODES in the follow-up of these recommendations and the agreements derived from the public hearing.

Race & Equality Participates in the 169th Period of Public Hearings of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights with Organizations from Colombia, Cuba, and Nicaragua

Washington, D.C. September 24. Together with more than 20 organizations, the International Institute on Race, Equality, and Human Rights will participate October 1-5 in the 169th Period of Public Hearings held by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) at the University of Colorado in the city of Boulder in the United States.

During the period of sessions, Race & Equality will participate in three (3) public hearings requested by organizations from Colombia, Cuba, and Nicaragua by speaking on the state of human rights in each of these countries to rapporteurs of the IACHR and international community.  In the case of Cuba and Nicaragua, the hearings are aimed at presenting cases of criminalization and repression of activists, journalists, [and] human rights defenders by the national governments of their countries in the midst of the political crises unleashed [and ongoing] to date.  In the case of Colombia, the hearing is aimed at describing and denouncing the state of human rights of the Afro-Colombian people.

The Inter-American Commission holds several periods of sessions each year, in which hundreds of human rights defenders from the region participate, along with delegations from the States comprised of high-level authorities in the field of human rights [and] academics, among others.  In accordance with what is established by Article 68 of IACHR Regulations, the hearings are public and interested parties can freely attend without the need to register beforehand.  The hearings are broadcast online in several languages on the official IACHR website.

Below we present the schedule of the public hearings on Colombia, Cuba, and Nicaragua in which Race & Equality will participate.

International Bisexuality Day: A Day to Remember the Sexual Diversity that Comprises and Complements Our Society

Washington, September 22, 2018 – Each year since 1999, International Sexuality Day is commemorated on September 23rd: a day to remember the sexual diversity that comprises and complements our society, as well as the urgent need to continue working for the recognition of the rights to individual liberty, autonomy, and identity of all persons, regardless of their sexual orientation, and especially the assertion and recognition of the rights of bisexual persons.

To that end, we applaud with appreciation the recent press communiqué on International Bisexuality Day issued jointly by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and experts from the United Nations: we believe that these types of statements are essential in the fight against the ‘invisibilization’ of the barriers and discrimination that impact bisexual persons and provide concrete data that help to eradicate misconceptions that are permeated by stigmas surrounding bisexuality.  To that end, the authors state in the communiqué that bisexuality refers to “the capacity for emotional, romantic, and/or physical attraction to more than one sex or gender.”  From our work with our counterparts in the region, we note with concern the frequency with which the sexual orientation of bisexual persons causes them to experience significant discrimination, in that socially they are categorized as ‘indecisive,’ ‘undefined,’ or ‘promiscuous,’ in this manner alluding to an as-yet ‘undecided’ sexual orientation which needs to be ‘defined’ as heterosexual or homosexual.  The stigmas to which bisexual persons are subject result in the ‘invisibilization’ of their realities and experiences, as well as the lack of awareness regarding the multiple challenges [and] barriers [they face], as well as the violations of their human rights.

According to the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, and Intersex Association (ILGA), bisexuality and bisexual persons are marginalized in all parts of the world, generating alarming figures of depression, isolation, health problems, and high rates of suicide within this population.  In addition, they indicate that the indices of domestic and psychological violence perpetrated against bisexual persons are much higher in comparison with what is experienced by homosexual or heterosexual groups.  In this same study, ILGA points out that “the reality of bisexual persons is unknown by social organizations and even by groups defending the rights of the LGBTI community” – the reason why there are few or no data from social and governmental organizations regarding the health, education, and access to reproductive rights of this population.  Likewise, the actions implemented by State organizations do not respond to the realities of persons with a bisexual sexual orientation.

In Latin America and the Caribbean, the social reality of bisexual persons is completely unknown.  It is as if they do not exist, given that people tend to feel such persons are “going through a phase or presenting a deviation from [normal] sexual conduct”; as such, no statistics or official data exist on the situation of this community, either at the level of the States in the region or at the level of civil society organizations, as the latter tend to address the situations of bisexual persons to a lesser degree.  In addition to this, the lack of knowledge, research, and comprehension of bisexuality becomes a worrisome limiting factor in identifying or defining barriers faced by bisexual persons.

Bisexuality is highly invisible in human rights practice and discourse; it is thus that this day becomes an opportunity to raise the visibility of the voices, stories, and experiences of bisexual persons, demand protection of the rights of all persons, demand research that will identify their needs throughout the world, and develop pedagogy regarding their reality.

Race & Equality calls on the States in the region, governmental institutions, and the LGBTI movement to fight against all types of discrimination and violence against the bisexual population.  We urge them to consider developing public policies that include bisexuality within [the larger topic of] sexual orientation and consequently, collect official data to internally counteract the violence and discrimination faced by bisexual persons.  Biphobia, as well as any type of expression of hatred or violence against the diverse forms of gender, identity, or sexual orientation are acts that diminish the possibility for constructing societies that are more inclusive, just, and respectful of diversity.

 

SO THAT OUR VOICES ARE HEARD AND INCLUDED! Today We Commemorate the International Day for Afro-Latino, Afro-Caribbean, and Diaspora Women

July 25 marks the International Day for Afro-Latino, Afro-Caribbean, and Diaspora Women. The commemorative date was established in 1992 after a meeting in the Dominican Republic of more than 400 women from diverse Latin American countries, where they analyzed the consequences of racism and sexism in the region. The meeting also provided a space for attendees to articulate joint actions and remember historic struggles to combat these issues.

On this day we remember that the fight to bring down the humiliations caused by discrimination, poverty, and violence is ongoing. Participatory spaces are closed off because of racist and discriminatory logic against women and Afro-descendants which prevail. Women from the region continue to be the victims of a hostile war committed to condemn their voices and their chants, to violate their bodies, and take away their children.

It is important to remember that Afro-descendant women’s organizations have undertaken a lot of efforts to achieve recognition and participation in decision-making spaces. Because of this, we urge all states to promote affirmative actions in favor of including Afro-Latino, Afro-Caribbean, and Diaspora voices in spaces that will permit the promotion of effective public policies that guarantee rights and severely condemn all types of ethnic or racial discrimination.

Today we rise up in resistance for the women suffering the war and apathy in Nicaragua, for the harassment and repression against women in Colombia, especially those who are persecuted for leading life in the territories. We rise up for those women who are not recognized and who are discriminated against in Peru; for the violence and harassment against trans women in Brazil; for the voices of the women in Panama; for the recognition of the rights of all women in the region. We will continue fighting so that our voices are heard, included.

THE DEATH OF HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER BERNARDO CUERO BRAVO CONTINUES UNPUNISHED

Due to the expiry of his term, deceased human rights defender Bernardo Cuero Bravo’s would-be assassin was summoned to a hearing on 9 August 2018.  (Expand notice: https://www.elheraldo.co/judicial/insolito-juzgado-cita-al-difunto-bernardo-cuero-para-que-asista-audiencia-de-su-presunto).

Following his assassination on 7 June 2017, the death of the Afro-descendant defender has gone unpunished: not only due to causes that precede this incident – which demonstrate the frivolousness of a war that continues in the territories and the apathy of a government that insists upon denying the systematic violation of human rights, especially of those who in and for the territory – but rather, for each and every one of the omissions by the State institutions charged with penalizing and sentencing the responsible parties that today translate into the imminent violation of human rights and revictimization of the already-deceased Bernardo Cuero and his family, who, surprised by this unbelievable act, today demand justice and truth.

These incidents that transgress on and exacerbate the pain of a people, a family, and an entire nation, are the proof of systematic violations and omissions of a State that is indifferent to the pain of an entire society.  The life of Bernardo Cuero represented the voice of the Afro-descendant people, who have historically been overlooked and doomed due to the inaction of a discriminatory, corrupt, and violent government.

As an institution that looks out for the defense and recognition of human rights, we forcefully reject this situation and lament the incidents which the Cuero Bravo family and the entire Afro-descendant community confronts once again as victims of a war that progressively drives away hope for constructing stable and lasting peace.

Colombia Still Living at War

July 6, 2018 – The Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights vehemently condemns the killing of eleven social leaders in Colombia this past week in the regions of Cauca, Chocó, Atlántico, Antioquía, and Tumaco. We strongly urge the national government and the international community to immediately speak out against the systematic extermination which has plagued the Colombian countryside in the aftermath of the signing of the Peace Accords on September 26, 2016, and which has incremented after the presidential elections this past June 17, 2018.

In the first three days of July, eleven social leaders have been killed, adding to the approximately 282 human rights defenders killed after the signing of the Peace Accords, based on a report from the Colombian Ombudsman’s Office. On July 3, seven bodies were found in the Argelia municipality of the Cauca region – a region which continues to be subjected to territorial disputes after the demobilization of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), and which had shown favoritism for presidential candidate Gustavo Petro with 90% of the region’s votes in his favor. Also reported were the killings of Felicinda Santamaría, Afro-Colombian leader and President of the Board of Communal Action for Commune 2 in Quibdó, Chocó, and Luis Barrios Machado, a social leader from the Atlántico region. Similarly, news surfaced two days ago of the killings of Afro-Colombian leaders Margarita Estupiñan, in the village of Llorente in Tumaco, and Ana María Cortés in Antioquia, who worked as a campaign coordinator for Gustavo Petro in the region.

The systematic violence in Colombia has increasingly claimed the lives of various social leaders, who are victims of assassinations, threats and hostility as a result of their political work. The majority of the recent killings have been against Afro-Colombian women, indigenous and campesino men, and social groups who have been historically targeted by violence, and face poverty and inequality. “Peace has not yet reached our territories, and we (Afro-Colombians) are the ones who are dying. The Colombian countryside continues to be at war, the conflict has not ended, and, what’s worse, we are completely defenseless because the national government has not responded in any way, whatsoever. Our people are being killed constantly, and yet it would seem as though this isn’t noteworthy – it’s not important,” stressed Erlendy Cuero Bravo, Afro-Colombian leader who has been the recipient of threats and hostility for her work as Vice-President of the National Association of Displaced Afro-Colombians (AFRODES).

With great concern, we call on the national government of Colombia to carry out the appropriate investigations of the events as soon as possible, to reject the impunity of these killings and to grant protection measures to leaders who continue to be at risk. We also call on the international community in solidarity of this national emergency and urge the Colombian government to take the necessary measures to protect lives and put an end to the killings, which are systematically ending the lives of Afro-Colombian leaders. We demand special attention to the extermination, threats and intimidation that have plagued Afro-descendant, indigenous, and rural communities which have been historically marginalized, discriminated against, and subject to violence, poverty, and violations of their fundamental right to a dignified life. We denounce the ongoing threats against the lives of women who are human rights defenders and are victims in life-threatening conditions as a result of their efforts to be included in spaces for dialogue and participation. We remind the Colombian State of its basic obligations adopted in relation to the respect for and guarantee of rights under the subscribed international treaties, such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the American Convention on Human Rights. As such, we encourage the national government to abide by these treaties, as well as to take into consideration the recommendations on human rights made to the State during the recent Universal Periodic Review, during which the international community at large issued a specific call to the Colombian State to protect the lives of human rights defenders, and to implement protection mechanisms to guarantee that their work is not criminalized.

Afro-Colombians and Human Rights: What the Incoming President and the Opposition Must Guarantee!

The results of the May 17 presidential election will have a big impact on the political, social and institutional conditions that determine the protection of Afro-Colombian communities’ human rights – in particular, those who have been victims of the armed conflict, racial discrimination, and have been historically excluded.

The election of Ivan Duque as the new President of Colombia for 2018-2022 with 53.98% of the votes (10,372,730) and the votes of 8,034,089 citizens (41.8%) for Gustavo Petro, establish a political scenario with significant implications for these communities. As the new head of the executive branch, Duque will have a strict responsibility to uphold Afro-Colombian rights, which stem from the Constitution, the country’s internal laws, and from the chapters of the Peace Accords. He must also abide by international human rights treaties that have been ratified by the State. Gustavo Petro, as the representative of the opposition, and with a seat in the Senate, should lead the legislative and politically-controlled processes that protect the rights of Afro-Colombian communities. This role bestows upon him an ethical obligation to continue pushing for Afro-Colombian rights, given the support he received from Afro-descendant communities in the Pacific region, where they voted overwhelmingly in his favor.

Duque’s election as president has been received with both frustration and fear by Afro-Colombian communities affected by the armed conflict. Many have been left feeling hopeless after the candidate they supported, and who incorporated their vision and proposals into his platform, lost the election, and also because the results of the election are a clear indication of the persistence of a lack of commitment to protect the victims of the armed conflict. The communities are expecting an increase in violence against social leaders and communities, both in rural areas and in major cities, as well as the continued forced displacement of communities to areas that continue to be affected by the violence, even after FARC demobilization.

These fears are not without basis. The president-elect’s campaign was supported by politicians and sectors that demand substantial changes to the Peace Accords. Afro-Colombian communities, broad sectors of society, and the international community have all declared their support for the Accords and have praised them as a way to guarantee the rights of Afro-Colombian communities, and as a path to achieve sustainable peace. Should the incoming president assume positions and make decisions that breach what was agreed upon in the Accords, this would impede their implementation. Many are asking to give the new administration the benefit of the doubt. However, the first signs are not positive: on June 19, a congressional caucus from Duque’s political party, together with legislators from other supporting parties, approved the suspension of proceeding with the legislative regulation of the Special Peace Jurisdiction (JEP) – a fundamental mechanism of the Accords.

The president-elect must respect the Accords’ agreements, which were consolidated as a constitutional mandate and State policy. However, it seems as if he will not follow this path. The repercussions of a policy reversal for Afro-Colombian communities will be negative – not only will the demands found in the Peace Accords’ Ethnic Chapter be at risk of not being met, but also drastic changes could be expected for the various mechanisms of peace, such as the Comprehensive System of Truth, Justice, Reparation and Prevention, and the Comprehensive Rural Reform, which will signify obstacles for the restitution of rights for Afro-Colombian communities.

However, the decision to ignore, modify or not guarantee the conditions of the Accords’ implementation does not exempt the incoming administration of the responsibility and duty to address the precarious situation of Afro-Colombian human rights. We must remember that the Accords incorporated demands and rights already guaranteed by constitutional and legislative norms, as well as international commitments still binding in nature. These include the completion of regulation of Law 70 of 1993, various constitutional rulings and decrees, Precautionary Measures by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), and the recommendations of international mechanisms of human rights monitoring, such as the CERD Committee, which monitors the implementation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination; all of which must be obligations for the President-elect to complete.

Any decisions that the incoming administration & Congress take must also guarantee Afro-Colombian communities’ right to prior consultation, and to free, prior, and informed consent. Guaranteeing this right within the framework of the upcoming National Development Plan for 2018-2022 must be a priority for the new administration and will be the focus of advocacy by the local and international communities. President-elect Duque’s proposed development plan presented during his campaign does not adequately recognize the rights of Afro-Colombian communities and promotes the continuity of economic policies that limit ethno-cultural rights and promote exclusion. Despite having the right to choose his own vision for the plan, Duque would do well to consult with the communities and not ignore rights already acknowledged. Prior administrations have not guaranteed the right to prior consultation in the elaboration of their National Development Plans, so the new president has the obligation to correct this practice.

Congress is also obligated to pass laws that guarantee the rights of Afro-Colombian communities, as well as to exert political control over the new administration. History has also shown the legislative branch to be weak in this respect. However, it will be important to make use of the role that Gustavo Petro and his supporting congressmen have, as promoters of Afro-Colombian communities’ rights, in correcting the current situation of structural exclusion of Afro-Colombians from the legislative process.  The mood and expectations of communities after the results of the election must therefore follow this perspective, accordingly.

The Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights will continue to support and defend the fundamental rights of Afro-Colombian communities in this new stage of political and institutional processes. We are particularly committed to support initiatives that lead to the Colombian state’s implementation of its international commitments towards these communities. In this perspective, we offer the following specific recommendations:

  • The new administration must prioritize the adoption of measures to protect the life and personal integrity of all Afro-Colombian leaders at risk.
  • The President-elect must urgently express his support for Congress to expedite the passage of the Special Justice for Peace procedure law.
  • In the formulation of the 2018-2022 Development Plan, the new administration must include a guarantee to the right to prior consultation, and to free, prior, and informed consent for Afro-Colombian communities who are victims of the armed conflict.
  • In the new Development Plan, prioritize the inclusion and financing of public policies to comply with that stipulated by the Constitutional Court in Auto 05 of 2009, Auto 092 of 2008, and Decree 4635 of 2011.
  • The new administration, together with Congress, must prioritize the completion of regulations found in Law 70 of 1993.
  • The Colombian state must abide by recommendations from international human rights organizations, especially with relation to the rights of Afro-Colombian communities.

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