November, 72,389 people had been forcibly
confined in Colombia during 2023. In
September, citing OCHA, the Inter-American
Commission on Human Rights said that Afrodescendant people made up 37% of all
confinement victims in 2023 and Indigenous
Peoples represented 25%.
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
Several times during the year, the Foundation
for Freedom of the Press recommended that
President Petro take action to enable the
media and promote freedom of the press,
instead of creating a hostile environment,
following clashes on social media between
the president and media representatives and
journalists.
The Foundation for Freedom of the Press
reported 398 attacks on freedom of the press
in Colombia as of October, including 132
cases of threats, 41 cases of harassment,
and 51 cases of stigmatization.
RIGHT TO TRUTH, JUSTICE AND
REPARATION
Between April and June, the Kroc Institute for
International Peace Studies registered some
progress in the implementation of the 2016
Peace Agreement, in light of the approval of a
constitutional reform creating the Rural and
Agrarian Jurisdiction. One of the main
concerns was the implementation of the
provisions regarding ethnic and gender
perspectives. As of June, fulfilment of 74% of
the provisions on the ethnic perspective and
70% on the gender perspective was deemed
unfeasible within the agreed term.
The UN Secretary General reported to the
UN Security Council that the Unit for the
Search of Persons Deemed as Missing had
recovered 86 bodies of missing persons
between March and June, and had handed
over the remains of seven to the relatives
between June and September. Since 2018,
the unit had recovered 929 bodies and
handed over 196. In October, the Kroc
Institute for International Peace Studies
reported the start of the implementation of 28
regional search plans.
The State of the World’s Human Rights
The Institute for Development and Peace
Studies documented, as of December, the
killings during 2023 of 44 former members of
the guerrilla group FARC-EP who had signed
the 2016 Peace Agreement. In March,
former members of the group raised alarms
about the deterioration of their security
situation.
In September, the government presented a
bill aimed at reforming the Victims and Land
Restitution Law. According to the
government, the objectives were to secure
adequate funding for the implementation of
the law and to implement durable solutions
and differential approaches.
IMPUNITY
In February, the Special Jurisdiction for
Peace (JEP) charged 10 former FARC-EP
members with war crimes and crimes against
humanity for their involvement in attacks
against Indigenous Peoples, Afrodescendants and peasant communities in
Cauca and Valle del Cauca provinces.
In May, an adversarial trial was started by
the JEP against a former congressman for his
alleged participation in a crime against
humanity of persecution against a political
group in Caquetá province, committed jointly
with members of FARC-EP.
In July, the JEP charged 10 former FARCEP members with war crimes and crimes
against humanity regarding 349 kidnappings
committed in Tolima, Huila and Quindío
provinces. The JEP also charged 15 former
FARC-EP members with war crimes and
crimes against humanity regarding the
implementation of a social and territorial
control policy in Nariño province affecting
Indigenous Peoples, Afro-descendants,
peasant communities, urban and rural
populations, women and girls, LGBTI people,
nature, and ancestral and collective
territories.
In August, the JEP charged nine military
men, including one former general, with war
crimes and crimes against humanity
regarding 130 extrajudicial executions and
enforced disappearances committed in
Antioquia province. An adversarial trial also
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