In light of the imminence of the presidential elections in Colombia (first round on May 31 and second round on June 19) and the change of government (August 7), the Ombudsman, Iris Marin, presented a list of what she considers to be the non-postponable decisions on human rights that must be taken by the president who replaces the current head of state, Gustavo Petro.
The head of the entity in charge of the promotion and protection of human rights in Colombia presented a 40-page report called “Non-postponable decisions in matters of human rights for the new government,” and explained it at a press conference. The document sets out some elements that the Ombudsman’s Office considers essential for the next president of the Republic.
“These elections open a new institutional cycle in a context marked by persistent structural challenges in matters of human rights, democratic coexistence, overcoming armed violence, and citizen trust in institutions,” said the high-ranking official, and detailed that these are “minimum and unavoidable requirements related to issues that do not admit postponement without seriously compromising the effective protection of human rights.”
Marin emphasized that this is a document that “is addressed to the campaigns,” so the first target audience is the candidates. “These are issues that any government that wants to be a good government must take into account,” she warned, and presented in four major chapters what she considers to be the roadmap that must be followed by the person who comes to govern the country.
Four major issues that the new government of Colombia must consider
The new president of Colombia, according to the Ombudsman, must first consider structural inequality and persistent exclusion in Colombia. In this regard, the government must address poverty and food insecurity in a structural way, consolidate the right to care as a pillar of equality, guarantee the effective enjoyment of social rights, confront structural racism and discrimination, strengthen protection throughout the life course by guaranteeing the right to a good future, and ensure dignified conditions of detention and overcome the unconstitutional state of the penitentiary and prison system.
With regard to armed violence, peace, security, and democratic guarantees, the new government must fully implement the Final Agreement signed with the FARC in 2016, and address the challenges of reintegration. It must also strengthen prevention actions in the territory and the effective protection of human rights, articulating policies of peace, security, justice, criminal policy, and territorial development; protect nature and the population most affected by the armed conflict and organized violence; and guarantee the rights of victims and the sustainability of the Comprehensive System of Truth, Justice, Reparation, and Non-Repetition.
Environmental degradation, climate change, and the rights of nature were also addressed by the Ombudsman, who recommended that the new government confront deforestation and environmental degradation associated with territorial control and illegal economies; effectively regulate mining activity to protect human rights, the environment, and territories; and strengthen disaster risk management and the response to climate change as human rights obligations.
Finally, but no less important, she referred to the comprehensive rural reform and the rights of the peasantry and ethnic peoples. In this sense, she proposed advancing in the democratization of access to land and the social ordering of rural property; guaranteeing the effective restitution of land and lasting solutions for victims; correcting the gaps of the multipurpose cadastre to guarantee legal security, territorial equity, and rights; ensuring the effective implementation of peasant and ethnic territorialities; and finally implementing programs for the substitution of illicit-use crops articulated with rural reform and territorial development.