00:00We have concerns about several factors of the rights of human rights in Colombia,
00:04but I would like to mention two that have been really the most serious ones in 2021.
00:11On one hand, the increase of violence by groups in the territories, in different remote areas of the country,
00:18the increase of suicides, the forced displacement,
00:21high rates of social leaders,
00:24social, which really are very important and put in risk the progress of the peace in some of these territories.
00:32And on the other hand, the police abuse against the national paro,
00:36which were really hechos that have no precedence in the recent history of Colombia.
00:41The US government Human Rights Watch public this 13th of January
00:46its annual report on the situation of human rights in the world,
00:49and Colombia once again closes.
00:51You say that the infractions of the international rights and the violations of human rights
00:58by both of the UN and the dissident of the FARC.
01:04Why do these attacks persist? Why do the population is still in danger?
01:08Why do these groups seem to be strengthened despite the peace agreement?
01:17What happened?
01:18Why do these groups have occurred?
01:19Look, these are criminal groups and irregulars and the first,
01:24or the responsibility directs in these violations to the international rights
01:28in these abuses and crimes of war, in some cases, correspond to these groups.
01:33And this has to do, many times, with the regional dynamics that have in the country.
01:36It's not the same as what happened in Nariño, what happened in Arauca or what happened in Cauca.
01:40But what we see at the national level are three big factors that explain the increase of violence.
01:45For one hand, the security policy of the government of Duque, which is not giving results,
01:51which is able to arrest or reduce the cabecillas, but does not improve the situation in the territories.
01:57For another hand, the implementation of the peace agreement.
01:59And finally, the pandemic. The pandemic has made in some territories that the employees abandon the regions.
02:06And those who really imposed the toques of queda, those who imposed the quarantines,
02:11and those who then left and took advantage of the pandemic to expand their control,
02:15were the armed groups.
02:15What recommendations do you give for a security policy that could be more effective?
02:22What would be those minimums?
02:24First, a security policy that is effective has to be part of the policy of the conflict with the FARC.
02:30The FARC no longer exists.
02:32Today, Colombia is not facing a great army, but facing a huge number of armed groups
02:39that have different regional dynamics.
02:43Second, we need to ensure that this security policy is based on the dismantlement.
02:47That means that combat the armed groups, yes, but also to face their legal economies,
02:52to face the waste of money, to face the corruption that allows these armed groups
02:56to flourish and have connections with the police officers, in some cases,
03:01in some cases, in some cases, local politicians, etc.
03:05And finally, we need to ensure a new policy of protection of the ciudadanian,
03:09which is not enough to be able to protect the armed groups,
03:12with panic buttons, with carros blindados.
03:15We need to protect the communities, protect all the communities in danger,
03:20and that has to be a central role of the security forces in Colombia.
03:23The mobilization of the paramilitaries during the government of Uribe
03:26was very high, had enormous failures, and allowed these groups to create.
03:32First, they created a huge number of groups that then were reduced,
03:35and currently the most important group is the Clan del Golf,
03:40or Autodefensas Aitanistas de Colombia, as they call them.
03:43The problem is that there is no clear policy to face this group.
03:46It is very good, and we say that the government of the President Duque
03:50has managed to arrest a Otoñel,
03:52but that is not finished with the Clan del Golf.
03:54What happens is that it substitutes a new commandment.
03:57So, we need a policy,
03:59we need a policy, a commitment to this group to the justice group,
04:02or a new policy to confront their criminal conflicts,
04:06their legal economies,
04:08the money that allows these groups to subsist in the country.
04:12Also, we need to make Otoñel's account against the justice.
04:15It would be grave, it would be worrying that,
04:17by the fact that he was extradited from the United States,
04:20he would not pay for the war crimes that is responsible in Colombia.
04:26The report also indicates the alarm for two phenomena of the war,
04:30which, for a long time, seemed to be disappearing,
04:32the reclutamiento forzado of children and the massacres.
04:36In both, there was an increase during 2021.
04:39We know reports of the aumento of the reclutamiento forzado,
04:42although, as you know, the reclutamiento forzado
04:44always has a huge register,
04:45because, many times, the families tem that they denuncie,
04:49the children can't kill or that they will not be able to return.
04:53Many times, they have the illusion of that they will be able to return
04:55to the armed groups to return to their children.
04:59The phenomenon of the reclutamiento forzado
05:01is a very grave phenomenon in Colombia,
05:02by all the armed groups.
05:04And, to finish with this phenomenon,
05:06there are some measures.
05:07First, a prevention in the communities,
05:11to be able to identify when there are communities
05:12where there is risk that there is a reclutamiento of armed groups
05:15and take the children of the areas
05:18and ensure that never the menors of age
05:20see the armed groups as a fuente of opportunities
05:24or as a fuente of work.
05:25And, second, a policy frente to the armed groups,
05:28a policy of the dismantlement of the armed groups,
05:31not a policy simply of arresting cabecillas,
05:34because that, to now, the only thing that has done
05:35is that the violence that changes the commanders,
05:39but it has not ended with the armed groups.
05:41It has allowed to continue to grow and reclutate in many areas of the country.
05:45In 2021, there was a number of massacres
05:48that no one had seen since 2014.
05:53What factors influenced that Colombia
05:57was in this scenario that seems like a retrocese in human rights?
06:01What we see in terms of the massacres
06:03is that the massacres began to descend
06:05from the year 2012, with the beginning of the process of peace.
06:09They descend clearly,
06:12perhaps, to their point of view,
06:14in 2016 and 2017,
06:15and since then they started to increase.
06:18Today, the level of massacres in Colombia
06:20is approaching,
06:21it is still not yet,
06:22but it is approaching the level that existed in 2012 and 2011.
06:25It is to say, we have lost, or we have lost,
06:28the benefits of the peace agreement
06:30in terms of the diminution of massacres.
06:32That is very serious.
06:33And this is explained by the confrontations of the groups,
06:37by the efforts of the groups
06:38to send messages to the communities
06:41and to terrorize the communities,
06:43and in general,
06:44it is explained by a policy of security
06:45that, again,
06:47has not given results.
06:48For Human Rights Watch,
06:50it is also important
06:50the violence that is lived in Colombia
06:52during the protests of the Paro Nacional
06:55that began the 28th of April of 2021,
06:57with protests that would demand
06:59the tax reform proposed by the government of Iván Duque.
07:02In Colombia,
07:03do you respect the right to the protest during the Paro of 2021?
07:07No, look,
07:08in Colombia,
07:08se violó el derecho a la protesta pacífica
07:10during the Paro of 2021.
07:11What we saw was a police brutality
07:16without precedence in the recent history of Colombia.
07:18Look,
07:18we documented the responsibility of the police,
07:22the police,
07:23the police,
07:24in at least 25 missiles.
07:27We documented,
07:28we have information
07:29of about 60 cases of lesions oculares,
07:33and many cases of the police.
07:33We know cases
07:34of hundreds of detentions arbitrarily or abusive,
07:37many times,
07:38under the figure of the
07:38traslado for protection,
07:40this figure that is in the code of police
07:42and that is presta
07:43to all types of detentions arbitrarily
07:44without control judicial due.
07:46And also some cases
07:48of sexual violence
07:49against the manifestants
07:50and transseúntes
07:51in the majority of women.
07:53These are cases that are not isolated,
07:55but we don't believe that they are sistematic,
07:58but we believe that they are sistemic,
07:59that reflect the problems
08:00of the police
08:02that have to do with lack of control,
08:04that have to do with the military
08:05of the police,
08:06that have to do with lack of discipline
08:08adequate
08:10against the police
08:10that commit abuse.
08:12A pesar of the
08:12panorama
08:13preocupant,
08:14the organization
08:14has also pointed out
08:15advances in human rights
08:16in Colombia,
08:17which have been consolidated
08:18during 2021.
08:19I think there are two good news
08:21in Colombia this year,
08:22in 2021,
08:23that it is worth mentioning.
08:24One is the work of the JEP,
08:26which I think has done a very important work,
08:28very valuable work,
08:29that we have to continue to support.
08:32And on the other hand,
08:34another good decision,
08:35which is the most important legacy
08:37that will leave Duke
08:38in terms of human rights,
08:39is the TPS for the Venezuelans.
08:42I think that it is a good policy,
08:43that it is worth mentioning
08:45by the government of the President Duque.
08:47I think that that will be the best
08:48that leave the President Duque
08:50in his presidency.
08:52And we welcome and we celebrate.
08:55Look, Colombia is not
08:59Nicaragua,
08:59Venezuela,
09:00or Cuba, of course.
09:01Those are the three dictaduras
09:02that we have in the region
09:03and Colombia is very far from it.
09:04Colombia is not
09:08a situation like the one that
09:09has El Salvador,
09:10where El Salvador is going
09:12to turn into a dictatorship.
09:13It is an autocracy
09:14due to the attack
09:16of the democratic institutions
09:18of Nayib Bukele.
09:19In Colombia, there is a democracy,
09:21there is a democracy
09:21from many years ago,
09:23a democracy with enormous difficulties
09:24and enormous challenges,
09:26and we have efforts,
09:27lamentablement,
09:28that are looking to
09:29debilitate that democracy
09:30instead of strengthening it.
09:31in the world to be made,
09:39Now you can use raw ingredients
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