UN HRDs concerned about the impact armed groups may have on Colombia's electoral process

In its latest report on the situation in Colombia, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights "views with concern the presence of non-state armed groups operating in areas corresponding to the 16 peace constituencies and their negative impact on security guarantees for the electoral process".

For this reason, the Office headed by Michelle Bachelet urges the State to take preventive measures to guarantee the exercise of electoral activities and political participation in an environment free of threats and all types of violence.

It also considers it appropriate to respond to the early warnings of the Ombudsman's Office and the reports of the Electoral Observation Mission, with protection measures, and with a greater presence of civil institutions in critical areas, carrying out actions against stigmatisation or discrimination based on gender or ethnicity.

In fact, one of the greatest obstacles to peace, according to the report, is the limited presence of the state, especially civilian authorities, in many areas of the country, which allows many murders and other violent acts to take place. 

Last year was once again a violent year in Colombia with massacres, hundreds killed and thousands displaced.

UN Human Rights received information on 100 cases of possible massacres in 2021, of which it verified 78 cases, two are still in the process of verification and twenty were considered inconclusive.

In the 78 verified massacres, 292 victims were recorded (32 women, 15 boys, 5 girls and 13 persons belonging to ethnic peoples: 7 indigenous and 6 Afro-Colombians). The most affected departments are Antioquia, Cauca, Nariño and Valle del Cauca.

In addition, between January and November 2021, 72,388 people (12,848 children) were displaced, almost tripling the figure recorded in 2020 of 26,291.

The UN, through its Verification Mission, also noted the killing of 54 former FARC-EP members and received 202 allegations of killings of human rights defenders, of which it verified that in 100 there was a link between their death and their work.

As for alleged human rights violations by the security forces, the UN received 100 allegations of killings, of which it verified 54 cases. Of these, 29 were due to the unnecessary or disproportionate use of force in the context of social protests.

"The violent action of non-state armed groups and criminal organisations affects individual and collective life projects, disproportionately impacting indigenous peoples, Afro-descendants and peasant communities," the report notes.

In addition to massacres, forced displacements and the imposition of mobility restrictions and timetables, these groups also commit assassinations of social leaders and threaten those who disregard the group's demands.

They also control the communications of community members, limit relations with third parties, restrict and control productive activities such as planting, harvesting, fishing and commercialisation of products, and disregard ethnic authorities.

Such actions negatively affect communities' access to food and undermine their political and economic autonomy.

It also strengthens the development and exploitation of illicit economies and territorial control by non-state armed groups.

Violence against women and girls is another factor of concern, particularly sexual violence. Threats generate silence, making the seriousness of this situation invisible.

The recruitment or use of children by armed groups is particularly serious and has a profound and in many cases irreversible negative impact on the social fabric of the affected communities.

Likewise, the recruitment or use of children by non-state armed groups and criminal organisations exposes them to exploitative dynamics that include some of the worst forms of child labour, trafficking, smuggling, sexual exploitation and slavery, which mainly affect girls. 

To mitigate all this violence, UN Human Rights indicates that the State must promote its comprehensive presence in particular in the rural areas of Antioquia, Amazonas, Arauca, Caquetá, Cauca, Bolívar, Chocó, Nariño, Norte de Santander, Putumayo and Valle del Cauca.

"This will allow greater access to justice and basic services, facilitating the fight against impunity and increasing the realisation of economic, social and cultural rights, which are fundamental factors in deterring and preventing violence.

Furthermore, it considers it necessary to deepen the comprehensive rural reform foreseen in the Peace Accord through the participatory implementation of the Development Programmes with a Territorial Approach (Programas de Desarrollo con Enfoque Territorial). "It is urgent to resolve agrarian and land ownership conflicts in rural areas," reads the document.

It is also urgent to advance, within the framework of the National Commission for Security Guarantees, in the elaboration of a public policy agreed with civil society, including women's organisations, to dismantle criminal organisations and their support networks, as foreseen in the Peace Accord.